The Whims of Fate
by That's Professor Hawke
Summary: He has his mother's red hair, his father's face, and most importantly, he has two of the best friends a Jinchuriki could ask for. His name is Naruto Uzumaki... and his tale is a bit different than the one you remember. AU, Alt!Naruto, CadetBranch!Hinata
1. I: Same Place, Different Time

**Author's Note:** The following story was largely inspired by _Who Dares, Wins_ by Fox Sannin's Concept Corner. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys _Naruto_ fanfiction, or even simply reading fanfiction that doesn't suck. It's one of those rare gems that make wading through the gallons and gallons of "meh" on this site worth it. It may also be worth reading if you are _not _a fan of Naruto because his un-ninja-ness offends your sensibilities.

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is a _Shonen Jump _publication written by Masashi Kishimoto. I am neither _Shonen Jump_ nor Masashi Kishimoto. If that doesn't say it all, I pity you for your lack of perceptive prowess, and strongly advise that you _not _pursue the way of the ninja.

**~V~**

**The Possibilities of Time  
><strong>- a _Naruto_ fan-novel series -  
>by<br>That's Professor Hawke

**Book I: "The Whims of Fate"**

**~V~**

**- Chapter One -  
><strong>"**Same Place, Different Time"**

**~V~**

You're familiar with the tale of Naruto Uzumaki, I presume?

It's the kind of story that I, personally, find myself taking an almost unnatural shine to... that of the trials and tribulations of a dead-last dunce who eventually grows into a strong, capable man in his own way; that of one who overcomes almost insurmountable adversity by sheer force of will, refusing under any circumstances to yield or admit defeat.

But sometimes, at the back of my mind, I have to wonder how events would play out if things had happened differently. If some fundamental element were changed — by some twist of luck, perhaps — would events have played out for the better, or for the worse? Would lives be saved? Would lives be lost?

It's not a question pondered in vain. The possibilities of time, you see, are so vast as to border on infinite. It's easy to imagine, in our own limited, linear perception of the events that unfold around us, that the flow of time is like a river. That couldn't be further from the truth.

Consider this: at conception, a person could be endowed with any number of varying characteristics. Some may be apparent in one or both of the parents; some may be buried unseen amongst the genetic clusterfuck of one's ancestry. And all it takes is one slight twist of fate's unseen hand — one errant seed finding its mark where others, in another time and space, would have found the mark instead — to radically change the person not yet born, their course in life, and how their life affects all of those around them. Their appearance, disposition, personality, latent ability, gender... all of it, decided by the roll of some divine million-sided die.

Would you believe me if I told you that for every possible choice an individual might make, for every possible question of blind chance, and for every single possible ripple in the ocean of possibility, there exists an entire universe?

I have glimpsed one such altered fate already: that of the stoic street-urchin Naruko Uzumaki, a woman whose road could not be any more diverse from that of the blond-haired hellion we're familiar with. That is just one of the vast array of histories that all spring forth from that one gamble of fate. And _that_ isn't even the tip of the iceberg.

So, friends and neighbors: shall we take a peek into the depths of another such world? Shall we take a dive through the looking glass and see what other roads may have been laid down before this legendary ninja of the Hidden Leaf?

Yes. Yes, I think we shall.

It's not as though we have anything better to do at the moment, right?

**~V~**

As before, our tale begins in _Konohagakure no Sato_, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Twelve years ago (as you know), a nigh-invincible terror appeared: a Nine-Tailed Demon Fox whose lashing tails shook the very mountains to their core. One ninja of incomparable courage and power rose up and gave his life to thwart this menace... the Fourth Hokage, leader of the ninja of the Hidden Leaf, now revered as a martyr and a hero of the highest order.

This much remains as it always has. What is the first alteration I would draw your eyes to, then?

Why, that's easy. It's the most eye-catching landmark in all of Konoha, possibly in all of the Land of Fire: the great stone faces of the Hokage Monument. These four gargantuan sculptures, eternally captured on the sheer stone face of the mountainside, are visible from virtually anywhere in the small city which (because tradition oft outranks semantics) is for some reason referred to as a "village."

These four faces honor ninja who are considered gods among men — shinobi whose skill, power, and wisdom set them far above the rank and file. Yet what really inspires the awe and admiration of the ninja who serve the Hidden Leaf is neither their skill, nor their power, nor even their wisdom. It is their willingness to defend the citizens of Konoha, unflinching, even unto the bitter end.

These four faces stand tall in the backdrop of the Hidden Leaf Village, and the rising sun shines down on all four. More importantly, they stand pristine... and unsullied.

Nestled in one of the Leaf's less opulent boroughs, in a quaint, run-down apartment building, one Naruto Uzumaki dutifully sits up in bed, making sure to rub the sleep from his eyes before putting an end to the blaring din of his bedside alarm clock.

**~V~**

He had to make sure to wake himself properly as soon as humanly possible, of course, because the red-haired twelve-year-old boy had long since determined that his tendency to sleep in could be nothing less than detrimental if he hoped to be a competent ninja. Living on his own at such a young age, Naruto had no parents or legal guardians to rap on his door and persist in waking him up _for _him. That was one of life's simple luxuries-in-disguise that he had, unfortunately, never known.

The urge to press the "snooze" button and plop right back down onto his pillow, however, was still not an easy urge to ignore, so instead he let the alarm ring for a good thirty seconds: as it beeped and beeped, it steadily got louder and louder and louder still, until —

Naruto winced and reflexively snapped his hand down on the two buttons required to put a permanent stop to the cacophony. When it hit _that _volume, there was no way any sane man could avoid at least one intense internal burst of annoyance... which was just enough to get the morning juices flowing.

_On that charming note,_ Naruto thought, _I really, _really_ gotta pee._

So he attended to the needs of the body as we all do — yes, ladies, even dashingly handsome shinobi legends must discharge their waste like the rest of us — and then, bleary-eyed, he strolled over to the bathroom mirror and looked himself over.

Meeting his own blue eyes (which were sharp and striking, though he was by no means self-admiring enough to note this on his own), the boy brushed his teeth and then, as he rinsed his mouth, pondered his current conundrum. His left hand drifted up to lightly stroke the whisker-like marks on his cheekbone: an old, impatient habit of his that he had never quite managed to quell completely.

Naruto, you see, was a fairly accomplished student of Konoha's Ninja Academy — not top of his class by any means, but any unbiased instructor would have to admit that the boy showed promise. He was pretty sharp with his shuriken (pardon the pun). He could pull off Transformations like a _boss._ His performance when it came to academic assignments was definitely top-tier. And the only classmate who could be considered better at hand-to-hand combat was that child prodigy from the Uchiha Clan. The kid had even taken a recent shine to _fuinjutsu_, the art of painting seals — something that very few shinobi his age ever explored, let alone bothered to pursue as a personal specialty.

Yet, despite this, Naruto had failed his Graduation Exam several times now — because amongst the basic ninja arts that the exam would always require flawless demonstration of... was the _Bunshin no Jutsu,_ or "Art of the Doppelganger." This technique, with which a ninja could create one or more illusionary copies of oneself, was Naruto's Achilles heel. No matter how hard he applied himself (Naruto could outlast pretty much any other student in the class when it came to soldiering through training exercises), how much assistance he sought from the (strangely reluctant) instructors at the Ninja Academy, or even however much advice his longtime friend (the best student in the class, even!) had given him on the subject, Naruto simply _could not _get this one very basic Jutsu down. This was particularly mortifying, since it was one of the first techniques Academy students were expected to learn once they had basic chakra manipulation down.

This year's Graduation Exam was now only one day away.

As Naruto tied his shoulder-length head of red hair back into his usual utilitarian ponytail, he had to suppress a sigh.

_One day. No big deal. I'll just... have to perfect the Art of the Doppelganger sometime within the next twenty-four hours. I'll have to do what I've been failing massively at for the better part of four years... within twenty-four hours. Gods, would someone please, _please_ just kill me now? Quick and clean, if you don't mind. Thanks, that'd be great._

Not one to let glum thoughts rule his disposition, Naruto did what he always did whenever something got him down: he focused on what he was doing that very moment. So for the next few minutes or so, his only thoughts were of the black vest and dark-green pants he dressed himself in (beneath the vest was a standard shinobi mesh undershirt), and his usual fantasy of buying himself a less-dilapidated abode with his mission pay, once he was a top-class soldier of the Hidden Leaf.

Somehow, he managed to hold onto that fantasy without actually thinking about how impossible it was for him to graduate. The human brain works in strange ways, sometimes.

**~V~**

As always, Naruto's eyes remained almost fixed on those great stone faces as he strolled easily, and seemingly without a care in the world, down Konoha's main street. He'd always enjoyed admiring those faces, his idols: images of the kind of proud, stalwart shinobi he strove to be, himself. A couple of times, he'd wondered what the people of Konoha would think if _he _wound up being the next face to be immortalized on that great stone mass looming over yonder. It was an idle thought that brought a sardonic grin to his real (and quite mortal) face whenever it crossed his mind — as it did now.

And whenever he thought this, his eyes hovered almost exclusively on the stone face farthest to the right — that of Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage. He figured it was a coincidence, and mostly the fault of the sculptor who'd crafted the monument, but... he could almost _swear_ it looked a bit like a spiky-haired version of himself. Especially the shape of the nose and eyes.

Well, whatever. All of that was neither here nor there. He dismissed the thoughts as quickly as they came, as usual.

Of course, there was another reason he kept his eyes fixed on those four faces. For one thing, none of those faces was capable of glaring at you as if you were a humanoid mass of rot, or of regarding you with impassive disdain if you happened to make eye contact by accident.

Keeping his eyes on those great stone faces was an effective way to keep his eyes _away _from all the smaller, fleshier faces surrounding him on Konoha's main street. If he looked at any of those faces, and one of them happened to look back, it would be with either hatred or disdain. This was something that Naruto was used to, that he had learned to ignore. That said, whether it actually got to him or not, the great stone faces were infinitely more pleasant to look at.

Naruto peeled his eyes away from the Hokage Monument, however, as he neared his favorite eatery in all of Konoha: the Ichiraku Noodle Bar. He always regarded the establishment with a warm smile whenever he passed it, even if he had no intention of walking in at the time. For one thing, the old man Teuchi and his daughter Ayame had always treated him right. The disgust and cold indifference he endured from the rest of the villagers? Walking into Ichiraku's was like walking into another world. Those two, when he made eye contact, would always greet him with a smile.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, a dark corner of his subconscious that he had long since locked and double-locked and determined to ignore, Naruto wondered why such smiles were a commodity in his world...

**~V~**

And here we go: the Ninja Academy of the Hidden Leaf Village. Here was another place in which Naruto could find one or two smiling faces... smiling faces that smiled _at_ him rather than _around_ him, that is. He had arrived, as was his custom, fairly early, so his classmates had begun to trickle into the yard at the Academy entrance, mingling and socializing with each other. Naruto's eyes slid right over the group to the one person he was looking for, who always arrived just a little bit earlier than he did.

Standing alone and leaning against a tree next to a lone swing which hung from a branch on that same tree, quite a bit removed from the five or six others who had bothered to drag themselves out of bed before their mothers had done so on their behalf, was a boy with raven hair and eyes just as black. Dressed in a simple blue shirt and white shorts, he stood with his hands tucked away in his pockets. His expression, as ever, was cold and distant — as if he were staring straight through the Academy walls into some unknown, personal Purgatory.

The red-haired ninja-in-training grinned and picked up his pace. When he plopped his butt down on the swing next to the brooding boy, neither said anything for a long moment; then, the raven-haired boy's eyes came back into focus, and his cold expression gave way to a soft smirk.

Seeing the smirk and taking it for the greeting it was, Naruto chuckled in response; this was their usual substitute for "Good morning."

Thus did the two boys, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, fellows in isolation, merely bask in this companionable silence, each pondering their own ponderings and drawing an odd sense of comfort in the knowledge that, mere feet away, was another soul who understood.

It was enough.

**~V~**

"_Na-ru-to...!_"

At the desk next to him, Sasuke Uchiha's stoic expression changed only the slightest bit. None but Naruto, the only kid in class that could honestly say he knew a tiny bit more than "jack shit" about the Uchiha prodigy, could have interpreted this as a sign of irritation, or even noted the minute slip of Sasuke's game-face at all. For Naruto's part, he could definitely understand the annoyance, if not exactly empathize with it.

The shrill voice that had split the air with its ire was, naturally, one of Sasuke Uchiha's many, many fawning fangirls.

Naruto turned to regard the blond-haired kunoichi wannabe with sardonic humor, knowing the source of her rage. This, too, was almost a daily ritual of sorts: Sasuke was sitting at the last seat in the second row on the far right side of the classroom, and in the only seat remaining next to him was Naruto himself. The fan-squealer standing in the aisle next to him was Ino Yamanaka, and she very obviously had wanted that seat for herself.

"G'mornin', gorgeous," Naruto said with an impish grin.

"You again..." huffed the blonde girl. Her fingers twitched, but this time she refrained from trying to manhandle the redhead who'd so easily trounced her the last time taijutsu spars had come around. "Get out of the way, you flake!"

"Nah," yawned Naruto, leaning back a bit more comfortably in his seat. "Spending the energy to slide out of the way would just be... aw, hell, I'll say it. _Troublesome._"

Ino's eye twitched at that, and her eyes involuntarily flickered over to the back row, where a certain young man with a pineapple-shaped haircut took a break from looking bored for about half a second to let out a massive, obviously fake yawn of his own.

Then, as if the idea had just come to him in a brilliant flash of inspiration, Naruto grinned a foxy grin, stroked the space next to him with a loving hand, and said in a low, suggestive tone, "There's a free spot right here, if you want it..."

As expected, Ino looked appalled at the prospect of sitting next to... _that guy_, that flaky-looking _girly-man_ whose sole ambition in life seemed to be to come between her and the object of her affections, but would she let that deter her? HELL, NO!

So Naruto was unsurprised when she wiped her aghast expression away in favor of a sweet, seductive smile and gracefully walked around the three-man desk to lean directly into Sasuke's personal space, elbows unceremoniously supporting her fawning form on the desk in front of him. Naruto rolled his eyes as Ino began her spiel, piling mountains of adoration on her precious "Sasuke-kun." Sasuke did what he was best at... and just ignored the squealing witch.

In almost no time at all, a gaggle of fangirl madness had accumulated in front of the raven-haired prodigy, whose cold indifference never once varied in the slightest as the usual squabbles for his affection broke out amongst the five or six starry-eyed girls gathered 'round them. None of them was happy that Naruto had stolen the prime seat; not a one was willing to compromise and sit next to Naruto in order to get closer to Sasuke. This, of course, was the reason Naruto always sat here. Not only was it a simple way to make his friend's day a touch less tiresome; it was also a private source of endless amusement.

The final part of the daily ritual did not occur until ten seconds before Iruka-sensei kicked off the class (forcing the gaggle of giggling girls to get the hell out of Dodge not a moment too soon, but maybe an hour or two later than Sasuke would have preferred). Ten seconds before that happened, a petite female form, clad in a hooded jacket that concealed most of said form, slid quietly into the spot next to Naruto.

Naruto regarded the quiet girl with his usual long-suffering expression and mouthed "G'morning," not even attempting to make himself heard over the chaos of Sasuke's fangirl fanclub. Hinata Hyuga — a shy girl with indigo hair, pale-lavender eyes, and a light-purple headband tied 'round her forehead — returned the silent greeting with a soft smile and the slightest blush.

Class began then, and the fangirls, mercifully, got the hell out of Dodge. The smallest hint of relief crossed Sasuke's eyes as Sakura Haruno finally peeled herself away from the "love of her life," and Naruto had to make a conscious effort not to burst out cackling.

**~V~**

"Hinata Hyuga!" called Iruka Umino.

Standing in line at the front of the class, Hinata tried (honestly, she did!) to lift one foot and place it in front of the other, but all she managed was an incredibly wimpy fidget of her feet. It didn't help that, right after the sensei had called her name, quiet guffaws could be heard from at least two directions behind her. Having eyes in the back of her head (so to speak) didn't help much, either; if she felt so inclined, she knew she could individually pick out each and every person who had expressed mirth at her expense. It wasn't a small number, and really, what did she expect? She _was_ dead-last, after all.

The sniggering faces rearranged themselves into those of neutral, well-behaved schoolchildren at the first sign of a glare from Iruka-sensei, and not a moment later, Hinata let out a startled "meep!" as behind her, a finger poked hard into a particularly ticklish part of her abdomen, causing her to stumble forward.

She looked back pleadingly at the culprit, Naruto, who simply nodded and gave her a reassuring smile, then gestured at her to get a move on. Behind Naruto, Sasuke locked eyes with the Hyuga girl for a moment — giving her a look that said she _could_ do it (now get the hell out there and get it over with!).

Her confidence bolstered somewhat, she turned toward Iruka-sensei and took a few steps forward. As she settled into position, she tried her darnedest to wipe that stupid, uneasy look off her face and to remember everything she'd learned while practicing with her two friends —

"And... go," said Iruka, clipboard at the ready.

Hinata put her hands together in that most basic of signs, and focused her chakra. For that added boost to her mental focus, she verbally called out: "Transform!"

There was a small explosion of smoke around her body — the class watched expectantly — and when the smoke cleared a moment later, Naruto's teeth shown through in a victorious, laughing grin. The prodigy behind him allowed a satisfied smirk to surface. The rest of the class watched in what could have either been surprise or disappointment.

Hinata Hyuga, the "dead last," had successfully transformed into a perfect replica of Iruka Umino, down to the last detail.

Iruka's eyes showed surprise for a moment, which gave way to a sunny smile. "A perfect display of the _Henge no Jutsu_, Hinata-chan. Full marks."

The fake Iruka in front of him looked stunned for a moment, and then in another puff of smoke was replaced by an equally stunned Hinata, who walked back to her desk in a daze, barely noticing the foxy grin her red-haired friend gave her as she passed.

**~V~**

Ah, Ichiraku's. If it weren't for that whole _nutrition_ thing, Naruto reckoned he could eat here forever — every meal, every day, without diverting from ramen-mania for even a bag of munchies. Alas, a ninja needed to be physically fit. Oh, well.

Sitting at the noodle-bar with Sasuke to his right and Hinata to his left, Naruto couldn't imagine ever having given a rat's fart what the rest of the village thought of him. Here in his own little corner of contentment, he was happy to slurp up bowl after bowl of pork-and-miso ramen... and darn the rest of the world to Heck for two thirds of eternity for all he cared.

Sasuke quietly slurped up his ramen in that ponderous way of his; Naruto reckoned he was the only person on Earth who could eat ramen "ponderously." Hinata simply stared at her ramen as if she couldn't believe it existed, not touching a drop of it.

Pausing his own feeding frenzy, Naruto cast a sidelong glance at his lady-friend and said, "Go on, Hina-chan, eat up!" He grinned, noodles dangling from his gob. "You finally got it! So eat up! You deserve it."

Snapping out of her reverie, Hinata looked at Naruto, blushing as she always did. "Y-yes, I will." Then, picking up her chopsticks, she said, softly: "Thank you, Naruto-kun."

"It was nothing. I mean, what're friends for? Decoration?" Naruto said, and proceeded to slurp up even more ramen.

Sasuke sucked up his latest mouthful of noodles, savored the taste for a moment, and then looked over at his two friends. "So that's one of you all set to go," he said. "What about you, Naruto? Did you...?"

Not two words into the question, Naruto's faltering expression and slowed pace of eating said it all. Hinata glanced at her crush with a fearful flutter of the heart, and Sasuke frowned before going back to his ramen. Naruto just set his face back to the contentedness of "ramen-mania" and ate with instantly renewed gusto.

That he had neglected to answer the question was lost on none of them.

**~V~**

**Author's Note: **I just want to state clearly, before I go any further, that neither this nor my other story are being written with even the slightest intent to "fix" canon. I actually love the original Naruto Uzumaki as a character, and for the most part I enjoy the majority of the anime and manga. What I'm doing with this story is more in the way of "playing with" canon. That's not a massive difference, but as they say whenever someone gives someone else a really shitty birthday present, it's the thought that counts. Right?


	2. II: If At First You Don't Succeed

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is a _Shonen Jump _publication written by Masashi Kishimoto. I am neither _Shonen Jump_ nor Masashi Kishimoto. If that doesn't say it all, I pity you for your lack of perceptive prowess, and strongly advise that you _not _pursue the way of the ninja.

**~V~**

**- Chapter Two -  
><strong>"**If At First You Don't Succeed..."**

**~V~**

Naruto stood in the middle of the woods, not far from the Ninja Academy itself, but still a safe distance from the actual Training Grounds. He'd have used those if he could, but the instructors at the Academy had made it clear that the shinobi training areas were off-limits to all but certified Academy graduates. Those same instructors had also outright forbidden independent training in the ninja arts, stressing that without professional supervision, inexperienced ninja trainees at pre-Genin level put themselves at risk of severe injury, acute chakra exhaustion, and even death. This had been one of the first lectures that all Academy students had been given, and Naruto remembered it well. The real-life stories of unfortunate boys and girls who had crippled themselves, burnt themselves out, or worked themselves (literally) to death... well, they stuck with you.

This lecture had taken place in front of a memorial stone on the Academy grounds. It was a fairly large, ornate stone slab, not unlike an oversized gravestone, and it listed the names of all the shinobi undergraduates to date, since the Leaf's founding, that had died—not at the hands of wild beasts or brigands or hostile shinobi, but at the hands of their own foolhardy attempts to better themselves.

A name had already been added to the monument, in fact, from one of Naruto's own classes. It had been about two years before he'd taken his first shot at the Graduation Exam. Her name had been Kyoko, and she'd been ten when she had attempted an advanced ninja training exercise that focused on controlling her chakra, and died of a snapped neck. She had been found, dead and broken, at the base of a tree which bore horizontal slash marks running up one side—presumably from the kunai knife found near the body. The slash marks stopped a little over fifteen feet up the tree. The exact significance of these details, which Naruto had read the following afternoon on the front page of a discarded newspaper, were lost on the boy; the moral of the story, on the other hand, was not.

So whenever he stole away to this forest to practice in secret, Naruto couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt. He'd learned to ignore _that_ over time, as well. The situation, by his reckoning, was fairly desperate, and Naruto himself was neither reckless nor stupid. He knew his limits, and he'd never heard of anyone snapping their neck while practicing their Doppelganger technique.

Not that Naruto ever trained alone in the first place. Although his eyes were closed and his faculties mostly occupied with trying to focus his chakra, he could, in some weird sentimental kind of way, sense his two friends as they stood some distance in front of him. After their meal at Ichiraku's, the two had insisted on accompanying him to their secret training spot—which is to say that Sasuke had put his foot down and insisted on it, and Hinata had stuttered out her agreement.

Naruto had wanted them to go home and get themselves rested up for the next day's impending exam. Hinata had quietly reminded him that not two days prior, it had been Naruto saying the exact same thing to _her_. Naruto, reluctant but grateful, had conceded the point.

Sasuke watched with clinical interest as a pulsating blue aura surrounded Naruto. To his right, veins pulsed at Hinata's temples as she surveyed the scene through the Hyuga clan's coveted bloodline inheritance: the "all-seeing" Byakugan eye, which allowed her to see things no normal eye was capable of detecting... such as the inner workings of a human body's chakra network.

A small frown formed on her face and she opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, Naruto's hands began forming the necessary signs—he growled, "_Art of the Doppelganger!_" and _poof—_

To his immediate left and right, with two small bursts of smoke, two additional Naruto Uzumakis sprung into being for one moment—

Then the one on his left imploded out of existence, and the one on his right began to flicker and blur wildly, the illusion unstable. Naruto gritted his teeth and strained his mind, trying to assert control, but—

The second clone dissolved like humanoid fog swept off in eight directions by torrential winds, and he released a breath he hadn't meant to hold.

"_Damn it..._" Naruto groaned, and after his latest attempt—the two-hundred-and-seventy-fifth one that day, counting his attempts to nail the technique over his lunch break—he realized something that put an even bigger damper on his mood.

His legs were starting to feel tired and his thoughts to feel just a little bit muddy. He was running low on energy. His body was giving him those first subtle warnings that he shouldn't push himself too much farther. It wasn't chakra exhaustion, not even close—chakra exhaustion was still a long way off at this point—but Naruto knew from experience that it would only get harder and harder to focus on molding his chakra from this point on.

"Well?" Naruto said, casting a pleading look at his two friends. "Do either of you guys have any bright ideas? I'm almost at the end of my rope here."

Sasuke remained silent, with a thoughtful expression on his face, so Hinata was the first to voice the thought that was on both their minds. The skin at her temples returning to its usual, smooth state and her pale pupils sliding back into normal focus, she gave Naruto an apologetic look.

"I-I can't really say for sure why," she began, "but you're still using far t-too much chakra. Your clones can't hold it all in and—"

"Pop goes the weasel," Naruto muttered. Hinata had explained this before. He looked from Hinata to Sasuke and back with a pained expression. "Guys, I get that. But I'm telling you, I can't seem to use any _less _chakra than I already am."

"...Hn..." Sasuke grunted as Hinata simply blinked a few times, appearing at a loss for constructive input. The other two looked to Sasuke in desperate expectation, and he looked back, first to Hinata, then to Naruto.

"Well, it's strange, isn't it?" Sasuke said. "Usually, when learning a Jutsu, students tend to generate too _little_ chakra, not too _much_. That's the way it's always been for me, and that's usually how it is for Hinata. Even if one overshoots on their first attempt," he added, "you're bound to _undershoot_ at least once before you get the correct volume and mixture of chakra for the technique."

As Sasuke spoke, Hinata seemed puzzled and Naruto's brow creased steadily with every word.

"So I'm wondering why you can't even seem to undershoot the chakra requirement," Sasuke almost murmured. "It's not like it's been any different for you with any of the other techniques. Transformation, basic genjutsu—you've never had this kind of problem with any of those, have you?"

"...No," Naruto replied, after taking a few moments to think. "Not at all. I remember going back and forth between using too much and too little, before managing to pull off the techniques with any degree of success." The three lapsed into confused silence for a time, until eventually Naruto said almost laughingly: "This isn't something we're going to figure out on our own, is it?"

Sasuke grimaced and Hinata was crestfallen. Naruto just looked up at the fading light filtering in through the canopy with a resigned smile, and said, "It's getting late, you guys. I think we should get going."

"...Are you sure?" Sasuke said. "I'm not worried about the exam, myself; I can spare a few more hours, no sweat. If we keep at it, maybe—"

"Y-yeah!" stuttered Hinata, looking desperate. "You can't give up yet, Naruto-kun! I'll stay with you all n-night if I h-have to, so just..."

The flustered Hyuga girl trailed off when Naruto shook his head, still smiling that sad smile.

"Trust me, Hina-chan, if I could keep going, I would," he said. "But between today's lessons and the last half hour..." He let out a frustrated "Tch," and let himself slide down into a cross-legged sitting position. "I'm almost done for tonight whether I like it or not. I can probably try a few more times, but at this rate all I'd get out of it is a wobbly walk home and a mild case of muscle fatigue in the morning."

He was exaggerating a bit, of course, but...

Sasuke didn't speak, his frown deepening. Had either of his friends been looking at him at that moment, they would have seen one of the prodigy's first blatant, undisguised displays of anxiety in all the time they had known him. Hinata simply stood where she was, eyes fixed on the grass between her and Naruto. Naruto had leaned back on his arms, and was gazing up through the gaps in the treetops once more through half-closed eyes.

Finally, the red-haired Uzumaki said, "You two should get home. I'm... just gonna sit here and think for a bit while I catch my second wind."

Hinata made to protest, but Naruto cut her off with a smile. "I'll see you two in the morning," he said, sounding as if he had not a worry in the world.

Realizing that he wouldn't take no for an answer this time, Sasuke and Hinata both said their good-nights and set out for their respective clan compounds. Their journey to dreamland that night was fitful: full of despair at their own inability to help their friend, and trepidation at the thought of leaving him behind as they began their own ninja careers.

Arms behind his head on his pillow and eyes fixed on the ceiling of his room in the depths of the nearly-deserted Uchiha compound, Sasuke, for the first time since the massacre of his family, drifted off to sleep without the specter of his brother hovering over him.

Hinata, curled in a fetal position beneath her covers in the Hyuga compound on the opposite side of town, could only wonder what she would do if the boy who'd helped her come so far was separated from her forever.

By the time Naruto made his way back to his own apartment, the sun had long since set and the stars were twinkling down, not a one giving his own troubles a second's thought.

**~V~**

The next morning passed by in a blink for Naruto—or at least, it seemed to have done so as he stood at the front of a line in the halls of the Ninja Academy, waiting six or seven paces to the right of the closed door beyond which all examinees, one by one, would be taking the final stage of Graduation Exam. Naruto had watched dumbly as the students ahead of him trickled in and out of the room at a rate of one every ten-or-so minutes, and as each left the room, they departed in the opposite direction with a shiny new _hitai-ate _forehead protector in hand or tied across their forehead, and invariably, a grin on their face that was both relieved and victorious.

Naruto resisted the urge to glance over his shoulder at Sasuke and Hinata, who stood directly behind him. He could almost feel their eyes piercing the back of his head, and imagined Sasuke's stoic visage tinged with a hint of apprehension while Hinata's bore obvious sympathy. Had he looked back, that would have been exactly the sight to greet him. He didn't look; he knew that would just worry them more. If nothing else, he could at least _pretend_ to be confident, right?

When the latest graduate exited the room—none other than the year's premier slacker himself, Shikamaru Nara—the voice of Iruka-sensei floated out behind him: "Naruto Uzumaki, step forward."

Naruto swallowed a small, nervous gulp and stepped forward. As he turned to shut the door behind him, he couldn't quite stop himself from looking to his friends for support. Sasuke gave him a curt nod, and Hinata squeaked, "Good luck, Naruto-kun..."

Naruto gave them a smile that even he could tell was convincing neither of them that anything was going to be okay, and then with a click, the door blocked them from view. He turned around and found himself in what his nervous brain recognized as the largest, emptiest room he'd ever been in; in reality, it was simply a classroom with all of the school-desks removed. At the teacher's desk in front of the chalkboard sat Iruka and his fellow instructor, a young man with shoulder-length white hair framing his face.

What was this one's name again?

_...Ah, right. "Mizuki." _

Naruto's frantic brain had taken longer than usual to process the answer. Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself before taking his position at the center of the room. As Mizuki-sensei bid Naruto to perform various basic ninjutsu and genjutsu—bread and butter techniques such as the Art of Substitution or the same Transformation technique they had reviewed the previous day, it was Iruka who passed judgment on each, both verbally and in his gradebook. Naruto did well—he could have performed better at the form-blurring genjutsu designed to make his body appear hazy and semi-transparent to the one affected by it, but otherwise he was gliding through without much trouble.

And then, once he'd returned the training dummy used for Substitution to its place at the back-corner of the room, the moment of truth arrived—

"Alright, Naruto," Mizuki said. "This is the last Jutsu we need to test. It is also mandatory, as with Substitution and Transformation, that all graduating students perform it to at least satisfactory standards."

Naruto visibly tensed.

"Could you please demonstrate _Bunshin no Jutsu _for us, Naruto?"

Iruka looked up from his clipboard, meeting Naruto's eyes. The red-haired boy sighed, and in that instant it was like all his worry just dropped from the room entirely. It was replaced by something that Iruka found more foreboding, in a way: it seemed as if Naruto's entire demeanor was grumbling, _Yeah, whatever. Here goes nothing. By the way? This whole test is such a drag. I just don't give a shit anymore._

With deftness and dexterity worthy of a ninja, Naruto's hands verily _zipped_ through the hand-signs without error. As he focused his chakra, that whirling blue aura surrounded him—

"_Art of the Doppelganger!_"

To his credit, it was a slightly better effort than the one he'd made the previous night. Two Doppelgangers materialized, both flickering wildly as though viewed through a monitor displaying a faulty signal. They lasted five seconds before Naruto's effort to maintain them broke. They dissolved, scattering on their nonexistent winds.

Mizuki looked uneasily at Iruka, as the latter stroked the horizontal scar on the bridge of his nose with a troubled look on his face. Naruto watched the two in silence, his face unreadable.

Mizuki spoke up, apparently mistaking Iruka's reluctance for indecision. "Iruka," he said, "his performance in all other areas ranges from adequate to exemplary, and his academic performance all-around has been admirable. His Doppelganger technique may have flopped, but his movements were flawless and he _did _manage to generate a pair of clones..."

Iruka cast a glance at Mizuki.

When he didn't receive an immediate reply, Mizuki said: "It _is _his third attempt, and given his performance in other areas... we _could_ cut him a break, and pass him."

Iruka shook his head solemnly and opened his mouth to explain why, but the sound of footsteps drew his attention to back to Naruto, who was making his slow way to the door without even bothering to hear Iruka's verdict. As the door opened and Naruto drifted from view, Iruka looked at Mizuki, who was watching the red-haired boy's departure with a thoughtful look on his face. Feeling a twinge of sympathy for this year's first reject, Iruka looked back to his gradebook and called for Sasuke Uchiha to step forward.

**~V~**

Hinata's heart fluttered as the door opened, and then sank as she saw the look on Naruto's face, realized that the Leaf headband was nowhere to be seen. The idle chatter amongst their classmates died down as he slowly strolled past, hands in his pockets and eyes on the ceiling. Behind him, whispers followed as one by one, his peers noticed his dejection.

"Sasuke Uchiha, step forward!"

Sasuke looked over his shoulder, eyes fixed on the retreating Naruto for a long moment before turning to enter the testing room. Hinata felt a dull numbness in the pit of her stomach, and could neither bring herself to look back at Naruto nor to lift her eyes from the floor.

Somehow, though, she managed to blink back that first wave of tears, and when it came time for her own exam, she placed all of her emotions on standby and fixed her mind squarely on the objective.

That was, after all, the first step to being a ninja. Naruto had taught her that.

But when she emerged from the exam room with her own _hitai-ate_ dangling limply from one hand, she could only wonder in silent deadpan how an Academy graduation could possibly feel so hollow.

**~V~**

"I have to say, you've surprised me, Hinata," the elderly Hyuga said, admiring the way the sunlight reflected off his goddaughter's forehead protector. "With your grades being what they were, I was almost certain you wouldn't make the cut. I've never been more pleased to be proven wrong."

Izuna Hyuga was kind of like a grandfather to Hinata, although by blood he was about as distant a relation as it was possible to have within a single clan. Stern-faced and with a gravelly, wheezy kind of voice (a direct result of the thick, wicked-looking scar across his throat), the man had always intimidated Hinata to no end. It was this old man who had been in charge of Hinata's training in the Hyuga clan's secret arts. And this was the first time he had ever complimented her... backhanded or otherwise.

"T-thank you, Izuna-ojisan," Hinata said, silently adding, _I think?_

Hinata now stood amongst the gathering crowd outside the Academy gates, across the way from the tree-swing at which Naruto met Sasuke every morning. She couldn't see either of them, but knew them to be waiting for her there. Naruto and Sasuke would have gone there first thing; unlike Hinata, neither of them had any family members still living to congratulate them on taking the first big step toward becoming accomplished shinobi.

Over the next few minutes, her "grandfather" grilled her for information on how she had performed in the three stages of the exam (the first being a written test, the second a taijutsu spar with one of the instructors, with the third being the practical ninjutsu exam). She answered dutifully, of course, but was paying so little attention to the man that she may well have been nodding and smiling with a dumb look on her face.

That was pretty much the long and short of her relationship with her "grandfather," who had apparently been a close friend of her father but who hadn't shown any real interest in the well-being of his goddaughter in years. She once had cared enough about him to spare some worry over whether or not she had his approval; when he had so vehemently objected to her budding friendship with Naruto, she'd lost whatever respect she might have had for the man and their relationship had all but died completely. Now he played the role of the legal guardian who took care of his godchild because he was expected to, and she played the role of the godchild who didn't care but pretended she did for the time being because she was still legally bound to him and wasn't the type to intentionally antagonize someone. As long as he knew he had no control over whom she _could_ and _could not _make friends with, there would be no ill will between them. Until he changed his tune and admitted that he had been _wrong_ about Naruto, there wouldn't be much in the way of affection, either.

When the old man bid her accompany him back to the Hyuga compound, she politely declined, saying she had promised to meet with friends for a meal in celebration of their victory—which was only half-true, but was enough to get the uncaring man out of her hair. His expression had soured, but apparently he'd decided it wasn't worth making a scene about. He bid her a rather clipped farewell, and turned without another word to depart. The moment he was out of sight, she untied the _hitai-ate _and removed it from her head.

She was careful to keep her head down as she did so, concealing that ghastly curse-seal branded to her forehead beneath her bangs as she replaced the ninja's mark of adulthood with her own run-of-the-mill cloth headband. Normally, she would have been proud to wear the Leaf plate, would have been positively giddy about it, in fact, but...

..._But I just can't bring myself to wear this in front of Naruto right now..._

As she tugged the knot tight, self-conscious as ever that it might come loose one of these days, one of the many voices yammering away around her said something that drew her attention at once.

"Hey, Rei—look. Over there, by that tree."

Hinata rolled her eyes to the side, watching the two adult women (proud parents of newly minted shinobi) to her left—the one who had spoken, a brunette whose hair fell all the way to the small of her back, nodded her head to the side with a sour look on her face, directing her blonde companion to look across the road.

"What, the Uchiha boy?" said the blonde-haired woman.

"No, next to him."

A pause, then: "...Ah," said the blonde, and Hinata saw her demeanor grow frigid at once.

"They say he's the only one who failed," whispered the first woman. Something about the uncaring tone of the statement—like she was commenting on a passing cloud or on how very green the grass was today—caused Hinata's brow to crinkle.

The blonde shook her head. "Can you imagine what would happen if _he _became a ninja? I mean, he's the one who—!"

"_Shhh!" _

The brunette snapped a finger to her mouth, seeming to panic for a moment. "We're not supposed to talk about that!" she hissed, glancing 'round as she did, checking to make sure no one had heard.

Hinata shuffled her way out of the crowd, and there they were—Sasuke and Naruto—alone and apart from the crowds as ever, the redhead sitting on the swing and the Uchiha leaning against the side of the tree in his customary position.

Hinata stood there for a moment, thinking of what the two mothers had said.

_Can you imagine what would happen if _he_ became a ninja?_

And the way their eyes had just seemed to freeze when they looked at him...

_But... why? I mean, this is Naruto. One of the most wonderful people I've ever met. He's never done anything worth that kind of... of..._

_Has he?_

She remembered her godfather's vehement protests, his barking commands to stay away from that Uzumaki boy, his insistance that associating with him would bring misfortune down her head. She remembered his refusal to explain just _why _she couldn't be friends with him, and the heated argument that had followed...

She pushed it from her mind. There were more important things to worry about right now, like supporting her dearest friend in his time of need. She could ponder the riddles of gossiping shinobi housewives some other day. It was probably some kind of mistake or misunderstanding, anyway. This was _Naruto_, after all...

**~V~**

**Author's Note:** There we go, Chapter Two! I debated with myself for the longest time over whether or not to just write one uber-long chapter to wipe out the events surrounding Naruto's graduation and the revelation that he is the human host of the imprisoned Nine-Tails, but I think shorter chapters are more my speed. I'd rather keep this story alive with a steady stream of smaller updates than wind up slacking off because any given chapter seems like too much of a drag to endure writing. Maybe when I've gathered more momentum as a writer, I'll lengthen my chapters some. We'll see.

Thanks to those of you who reviewed the first chapter! The knowledge that the story is actually being _read_ goes a long way toward motivating me to continue. =3


	3. III: In Another Lifetime, Perhaps

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is a _Shonen Jump _publication written by Masashi Kishimoto. I am neither _Shonen Jump_ nor Masashi Kishimoto. If that doesn't say it all, I pity you for your lack of perceptive prowess, and strongly advise that you _not _pursue the way of the ninja.

**~V~**

**- Chapter Three -  
><strong>"**In Another Lifetime, Perhaps"**

**~V~**

The first thing Hinata noticed as she approached the swing was that she wasn't the only one who'd opted to stash their headband out of sight for Naruto's sake. Sasuke's forehead was conspicuously bare at the moment.

The two boys sat and stood in their usual spots, saying their usual nothing. Naruto looked up with a strained smile as their little group's female element came to a stop in front of him, and Hinata's heart welled up with some feeling she couldn't quite identify when he said, "I'm glad you made it, Hina-chan. All of your hard work paid off, eh?"

"Yes... Naruto-kun..." she said, wringing her hands at her waist. "It did. You were right. Everything you told me, it... it got me through."

Naruto chuckled softly. "I guess I really am an amazing influence, eh?" he quipped. Hinata squirmed inside, that unidentifiable feeling growing stronger.

"N-Naruto-kun... it's all thanks to you. You're the only reason I—"

"Don't you go shortselling yourself on me now," Naruto said. "You did it all. I just gave you a few helpful hints and treated you to a couple bowls of ramen here and again." Naruto's head quirked to the side and some of his humor became more genuine. "'Sides, what's that make Sasuke? Chopped liver? _He _helped, too."

"Hn." Sasuke shrugged, not seeming to care. "A little, yeah," he said. In truth, all he'd really done was offer a few basic pointers on how to get specific Jutsu right. It was nothing Hinata couldn't have figured out on her own, he'd just saved her a little time. By Sasuke's reckoning, Naruto had done a lot more to help Hinata straighten herself out than Sasuke himself would have ever thought to.

But Hinata said, "Y-yes. Both of you..."—she sucked in a deep breath—"...are better friends than I could have ever dreamed to find. T-that's why I was hoping... you know... the three of us, together..."

"...that the three of us would go on to become ninja as one, side by side," Naruto finished softly. His feigned humor "gave up" as he said it, giving way to both sympathy and sadness.

Sasuke turned his head to look at Hinata for the first time: her expression was nothing less than tortured as she looked back and forth between Sasuke and Naruto.

"Y-yes," she said, eyes downcast. "I don't want to leave you behind, Naruto. Either of you."

_But especially Naruto, _Sasuke observed (being tactful enough to keep it to himself).

"I had hoped for that, too, Hina-chan... Sasuke..." Naruto said. "But it's not like I'm shipping out to Suna, or anything. I'll still be here. We don't have to stop being friends just because I didn't graduate on the same day as you."

Hinata smiled but didn't raise her eyes. Sasuke looked to Naruto, but couldn't think what to say; this kind of thing wasn't... something he was used to. He wanted to say something, anything, to help lift those pale eyes from the floor, he wanted to figure out some solution to Naruto's dilemma, but—

—but he just had no idea what he could do or say about _either _of those things.

Naruto, without warning, stood up. "It's okay, Hinata," he said, putting a firm hand on her shoulder. Her eyes snapped up to meet his; he was smiling again. "It's okay. I'll be fine, and I'm not going anywhere. Neither of us are."

And she knew what that unidentifiable feeling was, now. Here he was, the only rejected student in his entire year, and he would rather reassure his friends than be comforted by them. Hinata felt a rush of affection for the red-haired boy even as that numb feeling magnified.

Naruto looked over his shoulder at Sasuke. "I'm going for a walk. I need some time to sort things out." He looked back to Hinata, sporting that foxy grin of his. "Will you two meet me at Ichiraku's for lunch tomorrow?"

"I-I'll be there, Naruto-kun," Hinata said.

"It'll be my treat this time," Sasuke added.

"Works for me. My weekly stipend _is _drying up," said Naruto. He nodded in farewell once to Hinata, and then to Sasuke, and walked away without another word.

Hinata watched him go, dragging her own feet as she slumped down into the swing next to Sasuke.

"There's got to be _something_ I can do..." she whispered.

"I'm still trying to work something out, myself," Sasuke admitted, slumping a bit against the tree and casting an annoyed glare at the blue sky—why was the sky always so cheerful whenever something depressing happened? Feh...

Not far from the pair, concealed behind the trunk of a nearby tree, the Academy instructor called Mizuki silently turned and vaulted the playground fence. One alley and half a block of sidewalk later, and he was comfortably strolling down the same street as Naruto.

He just had to wait until the boy was in a reasonably secluded location, and he could set his plan into motion...

**~V~**

Naruto, inevitably, found himself sitting, his ninja sandals set on the rocks beside him, with his feet in the water at the edge of a stream that ran through the woods near his usual training spot. His mind, at this point, was nearly blank; "nearly" because he was only partway through what he credited as the sole reason he was still emotionally content (maybe, perhaps, the sole reason he was sane).

In his younger years, Naruto had been alone. When he lived amongst the children at the orphanage, he had been all but neglected—afforded what attention the caretakers were required to dispense and absolutely no more. When the other children had pushed him around or teased him, the adults present had made only a token effort to discipline them. The only living creature that had ever come to his defense had been a common grass-snake, which had slithered by chance onto the scene one afternoon in time time frighten off a few of the more aggressive bullies.

As for the children themselves, there had been only two kinds: the ones who pushed him around, and the ones who ignored him completely. The trickle of citizens who visited the orphanage looking to adopt children had usually given him one cold look and proceeded to ignore him. It had been an empty atmosphere, where he had felt unwanted and unnecessary.

Naruto had decided early on that at the first opportunity that presented itself, he would depart the orphanage and never look back. He had, briefly, considered running away in the dead of night with whatever supplies he could "borrow" from his surrogate guardians, but in the end the prospect of making a life for himself on the streets had been just a little too daunting. His answer had come several months later, when an orphanage "field trip" to the Ninja Academy and a surprise one-on-one talk with the Third Hokage had made known to him the Hidden Leaf's orphan enlistment program.

At the age of five or older, any orphan in the city's care could opt to enroll at the Academy and apply for an allowance from the village—committing to a mandatory contract of service as a Shinobi of the Leaf in exchange for the chance to leave the orphanage and make a self-sufficient life of their own. As far as Naruto was concerned, this was the chance of a lifetime.

Naruto had hoped that with the move to the Academy, and to a new set of faces, he would be able to make some friends, or do well enough in his studies that he would garner some praise from his teachers—if not kinship, then perhaps he could find a sense of accomplishment. This, however, had not been the case. Naruto had been crestfallen when he'd spent several weeks at the Academy only to find that the atmosphere there was just as cool and devoid of acknowledgment as had been the orphanage. The teachers were indifferent and "all-business" when they spoke to him; the children, for whatever reason, soon distanced themselves from him. Naruto poured his resulting frustrations into his training, but his heart hadn't been in it.

The turning point in his life had been a lecture on the rules of shinobi conduct. It was one of those monologues that tempted the listener to lean on one arm and stare _through_ the chalkboard with glazed eyes, maybe a touch of drool at the corner of the mouth. Naruto had taken in every word of it. One rule in particular, the twenty-fifth, had stuck with him from that point forward:

_No matter what happens, true shinobi must never, ever, show their emotions. The mission is the only priority. Carry that in your heart, and never shed a tear._

The idea had fascinated Naruto to no end. How, he wondered, could anyone ever act in a way that was opposed to their own feelings? For a long time he couldn't understand it, but one day—oddly enough, while he was slurping down ramen at Ichiraku's—the answer had come to him without prompting or provocation.

That had been the trigger; knowing what to do, Naruto had but to learn how to do it. Having long ago discarded the notion that any of the people around him would ever acknowledge him, he had found himself a nice, secluded clearing in the woods and... he had meditated.

That's the only real word for it, though to this day it hadn't occurred to Naruto to think of it as such. To the red-haired boy who sat on the rocks at the side of the stream, enjoying the feel of the cool water on his bare feet, it felt most like calmly taking his thoughts, slipping them neatly into folders, categorizing them, and storing them away. Some he determined to be worth keeping; these he filed in an easy-access desk drawer near to hand. Others confused him; he turned them around in his hand for a time, and then sorted them slipshod into the first drawer that felt "right" for them. More often than not, these joined the thoughts he deemed unpleasant, which he put away in the rearmost filing cabinet. These drawers he locked, and then double-locked, resolving never to ponder their contents again unless absolutely necessary. They were a hindrance to the mission.

The mission in question?

Well, that's easy: to become a true shinobi.

That was all, and that was enough.

And if the rest of the world didn't want him there, fuck them up the bum with a punching post. The day had not yet come when the gods would descend from the heavens and pass out permission slips for the right to exist. In the meantime, he would proceed not to give a damn, or more accurately, to file that "damn" into that rearmost cabinet where he wouldn't have to look at it when he rolled out of bed in the morning.

Suddenly, life was a much more bearable place to live.

This sorting-out of all his mental baggage was something he had eventually learned to accomplish on the fly as he went about his daily motions, but every so often he still had to get away from it all. And so now, he had returned to his designated Thinking Spot to sort out his latest bag of issues.

Mizuki, biding his time until he could approach without arousing suspicion that Naruto had been followed around the town and back, patiently watched the boy, and waited. To this outside observer, Naruto appeared simply to have vacated the premises for a time. So to speak.

It was a little over fifteen minutes. That was the approximate time it took for Mizuki to step out of hiding and approach that year's only reject. He did so with a warm, sympathetic, knowing smile and what he believed to be a positively cunning scam.

In another life, perhaps, Naruto might have been gullible or desperate enough to fall for it.

In another life. Not this one.

**~V~**

The Hokage Tower was two parts administrative offices, two parts archive, one part opulent residential. It was the upper floor, the Hokage's personal suite, in which Naruto Uzumaki now found himself. On the way in, he'd been as deft at infiltration as any graduation-level ninja trainee had ever been before him; once he'd made his way into the Hokage's residential floor, he'd dispensed with that and reverted to a mere _token_ level of stealth.

It was a nice place—what he could see of it with what moonlight filtered in through the windows, at least. Nice cushions, high quality flooring, a bit of nice art on the wall by the window there. More ritzy than anything Naruto himself was interested in, but—

"What are you doing in my house?"

Naruto, though he'd been both expecting and counting on this, almost flinched at the sound of the old man's voice. When something so commanding shattered the silence like that, it was kind of hard not to.

Naruto turned around easily to face the current Fire Shadow of the Hidden Leaf, keeping his hands raised a bit so that the elderly ninja could see that he meant no harm—despite the basic assortment of kunai and shuriken equipped to his person.

"Well?" the Third Hokage barked out sternly. Then: "Naruto?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Naruto said with a small, respectful bow of the head. "I wanted to approach you earlier, but I _think_ Mizuki-sensei may be tailing me."

Whatever it was that Hiruzen Sarutobi had expected to hear, that likely wasn't it. If he was surprised or confused, he masked it well.

"Explain yourself."

"Gladly, Hokage-sama..."

**~V~**

Sasuke and Hinata had said their goodnights and parted ways after sharing a quiet, troubled meal at one of the village's cheaper restaurants, the Leaf Cafeteria. Finding herself too restless to return home, however, Hinata had left word with a Cadet Branch attendant at the compound that she would be out late tonight, and had commenced to wander at random through the village, not really seeing where she was going.

When the sun had long since sunk beneath the horizon, she found herself drifting over to the woodland patch not far from the Academy, in the clearing where she, Naruto, and Sasuke had practiced their Jutsu together. Realizing where she was, she blinked, and then let out a dry chuckle.

_Figures my feet would take me here._

She looked up through the trees, glimpsing a slice of the waning half-moon low in the sky. As she did, she realized that her legs were killing her. _No! Really?_ she thought with a wry grin. She'd run herself ragged _pacing_ around the _entire village_. Of _course_ her legs were sore.

Moving to the center of the clearing, she let herself fall into a sitting position on the grass and leaned back on her arms.

_He was... happy for me. Genuinely, really and truly happy for me, even though he didn't make it himself._

Ever since they had met, Naruto had gone out of his way to help Hinata work through her problems, had seemed to make a stronger effort to guide _her_ than to better _himself._ It was as if Fate had decided to throw her a bone in the form of an unlikely, unofficial "sensei."

He had noticed her, and he had helped her.

That idea had been the source of her confidence for months, now. She had been watching him quietly from the background, but _he_ had noticed _her_.

**~V~**

_By "the background," she means "from around the corner of a maintenance shed during lunch hour." The rest of their year was mingling in their motley groups and cliques, but two boys had quietly deserted the congregation of ninja trainees that were eating and chattering away merrily in the schoolyard. They'd deserted not to cut class, nor to cause mischief. Rather, they'd relocated their own meal to a more secluded corner of the Academy grounds so as not to draw the squealings and fawnings that would plague them if any of the young ladies in the class had gotten it into their heads to share their lunch breaks with their dreamy love-muffin, "Sasuke-kun."_

_Hinata watched from around the corner of the shed, fidgeting with her fingers, trying to work up the courage to step out into the open and ask Naruto if maybe, possibly, he wouldn't mind if... she maybe sat down and ate her lunch... maybe not necessarily _with_ him, but... somewhere in the vicinity... maybe?_

_Blushing as she realized how bashful she was being even in her own _head_, the girl withdrew a bit, and then peeked out again. She withdrew again when the raven-haired Uchiha glanced in her direction—_Oh, God, I think he saw me!—_and stood with her back to the wall for seconds that felt like minutes, breathing so hard and so fast that she swore she'd hyperventilate if hit with a scare like _that _again._

_Should she? Shouldn't she? _Could _she? Hinata waited a bit longer and then peeked 'round the shed again—_

_Disappointment showed clear as day on her face when she saw that Sasuke Uchiha now sat eating his lunch alone. Naruto, the boy her heart had been all aflutter over, was nowhere to be seen, nor was his bento—had she lost her chance?_

_She looked to and fro for some sign of where the boy had gone, heart sinking. But, she thought glumly... maybe it was for the best. If she approached him, she'd just make him think she was an awkward, stuttering fool—_

"_EEK!"_

_From behind, something had jabbed into a particularly ticklish part of her lower abdomen, and she let out a cry of alarm, whirling around to face the culprit—_

"_Yo," said the red-haired boy with the dreamy blue eyes and the whisker-marked cheeks, grinning in that foxy way of his. His right index finger was still aloft and extended. "You one of Sasuke's groupies?"_

"_N-N-N-N-Na-Naru-t-t-t-t-t-t-t..."_

_Hinata's world went white as she sagged to the ground in a dead faint. Naruto just stood there, staring at the place where her face had been before she'd collapsed, his expression somewhere between amused and mortified._

_A few moments later, Sasuke strolled over to the girl laying unconscious on the grass. He regarded her with a raised eyebrow for a second, then rolled his eyes to send a questioning glance at his friend._

"_I think I killed her," Naruto said, in a very small voice._

**~V~**

_Hinata's heart was thrumming wildly in her chest, and it was all she could do to keep her knees from shaking. They were in the woods—she, Naruto, and Sasuke—and she was standing in her clan's traditional _Jyuken_, or "Gentle Fist," fighting stance—palms open and at the ready, though she felt anything but. A few yards away stood her crush, the boy with the red hair and the whisker marks on his cheeks, assuming the standard Academy taijutsu stance. He was smiling in a may-the-best-fighter-win kind of way. At the edge of the clearing, Sasuke stood with his back against a tree and his arms folded across his chest, completely and totally at ease, watching his two friends impassively._

"_N-Naruto, I'm not s-sure I can—" Hinata stammered, but Naruto waggled a finger at her without breaking stance._

"_None of that," he said. "Push it to the back of your mind and forget it there. Don't think about whether you can or can't, unless it's purely from a strategic point of view. Don't think about whether you're willing to hurt me or not, either. We're sparring here; it's all in good fun. And in the interest of increasing our skills, of course."_

_Hinata gulped, and closed her eyes. _Push it back, _she thought. _Push it back, push it back, push it back and forget about it...

_A deep breath, another deep breath, and she realized her legs didn't feel so much like buckling anymore. Figuring that was the best she was going to manage, she opened her eyes and fixed Naruto with what she _hoped _was a determined glare._

"_Let's fight, Naruto-kun."_

_Dimly, she registered that this was the first full sentence she had spoken to her crush without a single stutter. And somehow, that bolstered her resolve a little more._

_Naruto sprang forward and feinted a punch as he deflected Hinata's left palm with the other arm—Hinata, her Byakugan active, twisted to avoid Naruto's knee as it shot toward her stomach, then used the momentum of the twist to circle around Naruto's left side, hooking his right arm with her own and kicking out at the back of his knees._

_For a moment it seemed that she had successfully tripped Naruto up, but Naruto flipped over backwards—twisting out of Hinata's grasp as he did—and caught himself on his hands, somersaulting back to his feet. Hinata was in hot pursuit, thrusting her palm at his shoulder the moment he found his feet. He again slapped it away with his forearm, catching her follow-up with his other. Nimbly, she hopped backward over a low sweeping kick, avoiding the wide swing of a fist that accompanied it._

_Then Naruto was on his feet again, and she was on the defensive. She recognized that his technique was a bit unrefined, but a brutal flurry of swings, jabs, and kicks still forced her back several paces before she fell back into the rhythm and managed to catch the side of Naruto's left wrist with a glancing palm-thrust, forcing a small burst of her own chakra into his pulsating chakra network._

_Naruto winced and pulled back into a defensive stance, his left hand visibly slackened. Obviously he had never encountered "Gentle Fist" before._

_Forcing back the urge to stutter out an apology, Hinata pressed her attack. Naruto was quick on the uptake; none of his parries attempted to block from the front. Rather, he focused on parrying with his forearms, trying to knock her strikes wide. None but a fellow _Jyuken_ fighter could effectively block a Gentle Fist strike head-on. When Hinata considered the fight after the fact, she had to admire Naruto's perception. Her "grandfather" had taught her that on average, opponents unfamiliar with the Gentle Fist style often took two or three hits as a result of their own attempts to block before wising up—if they had a chance to wise up at all. Naruto had needed only one._

_As Hinata thrust a palm at Naruto's shoulder, he caught her arm with both hands and hit her with a low kick to the right shin as her other palm shot toward his face. He pulled his head back, yanking her forward and off-balance, and let himself land on his back, positioning his feet at her stomach as he fell._

_Releasing his grip with one hand, he caught her other as she attempted a second thrust, and with the momentum of his fall, he _threw _her with his feet, holding fast to her forearms as she swung over his head and slammed into the ground behind him—his own arms stuck out, elbows thrust into the sky, maintaining an unwieldy reverse grip as she swung through the fall. _

_The impact knocked all the wind from her body, not to mention it _hurt_ like a lady poodle. The back of her head in particular stood out amidst the rest of the pain, as she'd had the poor luck to smack her head on a small stone when she landed. Through her struggle to remain conscious, she felt Naruto release his grip on her arms, and realized that at the awkward angle he'd been holding her, he must have made special effort not to break either his own wrist or the bones in her arms._

_Blinking back tears and trying to ignore the pain, she jerked herself to a sitting position—or tried to, making it about two inches before inhaling sharply and plopping back onto the dirt._

_The sunlight was blinding her—_

_And it was suddenly blocked out as the red-haired boy with the foxy grin and the whisker marks on his cheeks was standing over her, bending over at the waste with his hand outstretched, waiting for her to take hold so he could aid her attempt to stand. He was panting heavily, sweat beading his brow, and Hinata, despite how the entire back of her body still smarted like nobody's business, felt her face growing hot. She had always thought he looked positively dreamy, you know, in that "Naruto" kind of way, but she had never really noticed how broad his shoulders were until he'd stood above her like that, or how toned his arms were getting until—_

"_Hinata-chan? This is Admiral Uzumaki, from Leaf HQ. Hinata Hyuga, if you can hear me, this is Mission Control, requesting a status update on the operation. Have you landed on the moon yet, Operative Hyuga?" Hinata blinked herself out of her reverie. "Because you look quite spacey," added Naruto, the corner of his mouth twitching upward. "Just sayin'."_

_Hinata's blush deepened as she allowed him to help her to her feet. She opened her mouth to say that she had known she wouldn't stand a chance, but Naruto beat her to the punch, complimenting her on her skills and noting how practiced her footwork had been, and how well she'd countered his moves. Her own self-depreciating analysis died in her throat as he listed all of the high points, and when she turned her head to regard their sole spectator, she saw that the Uchiha boy was still leaning against that same tree in that same impassive position—but was now regarding her with... what was that look in his eyes? Interest? Apprehension? It was _something_ between East and West, but she couldn't quite place it on a map._

_When she returned to the Hyuga Clan Compound that sunny weekend afternoon, she was sore all over. But her steps were light, and those of her kin who took the time to note her demeanor wondered idly what had the timid orphan of the Cadet Branch in such high spirits that day._

**~V~**

Hinata remembered waking up the next morning, her muscles aching with the dull soreness that feels like victory. You know, the kind you feel the day after a particularly harsh workout. It bugs you, but at the same time, it reminds you that you're getting stronger. When Hinata next joined the two boys, it was for lunch at Ichiraku's Noodle Bar, which Naruto had named as his "most favoritest eating establishment in the known multiverse." (Sasuke had snorted into his noodles at the pronouncement.)

From then on, the three had been almost inseparable. Hinata had discovered that outside of school, where the two boys stuck close but otherwise said little to one another, Sasuke and Naruto spent quite a lot of time together—typically training together in the woods on weekends and eating together after school on weekdays. Hinata meshed with this routine more easily than she would have thought. In no time at all, the tag-team marathon of sparring matches and shuriken practice was a weekend event that she came to anticipate more and more eagerly with each passing week, and every day found her sitting at either Ichiraku's, Barbe-Q, or the dango shop with her two new best friends. And slowly, surely, she found herself opening up and becoming comfortable in their presence.

Sasuke spoke little of himself, and Hinata got the impression that it was best not to poke at those questions, but Naruto was willing enough to share. He was an orphan, like her. _Unlike_ her, he had never known either of his parents. His earliest memories were of an orphanage where he'd had no friends and where none of the caretakers had shown any particular interest in him. Something about the way he said this tickled Hinata's curiosity, and she wondered just how much he was leaving out about his time in the orphanage.

When Hinata walked with Naruto, she noticed that some of the passersby would give them strange looks. Some looked outright hateful, others cautious. Always these strange looks were directed at Naruto, and always they seemed to just roll right off the boy as if he couldn't be arsed to acknowledge them. The one time Hinata had tried to bring this up, Naruto had deflected her half-asked question with a comment on his most recent sparring partner in class. She hadn't had the heart to bring it up a second time.

**~V~**

Pulling her mind back into the present, Hinata sat up and folded her legs beneath her, Indian-style. As much as she wanted to help Naruto, as much as she dreaded the prospect of going on to become a ninja while he remained an undergraduate, at the end of the day, she had to accept that it was something she couldn't change.

_Push it back, and forget about it there._

She closed her eyes and willed all thoughts of Naruto into the back of her mind. When a memory tried to float into her mind's eye, she swept it away. When worry tried to jump up and claw at her brain, she hit it with a mental backhand. And eventually her mind fell silent.

She opened her eyes and, on a whim, focused her chakra. Veins sprung up over her temples as the Byakugan eye flared to life at maximum capacity.

Deciding that while she was at their training spot, she may as well get some sort of training done, Hinata went through the motions of one of the Hyuga clan's most basic exercises. The Byakugan eye, a hereditary trait in her bloodline, allowed its bearers unparalleled visual acuity. With a visual range of almost three hundred and sixty degrees in all directions, she could literally see out the back of her head... and the top, and the sides, and the bottom. She could also see through any solid objects in the vicinity.

The trouble with such complex eyes is that, unlike the eyes most people are born with, the full potential of the Byakugan had to be dragged kicking and screaming from her own body through intense visual practice. For one thing, although it was possible to _see_ everything around her, this didn't mean it was easy to _focus _on everything around her. Normally, one shifts their visual focus by rolling their eyes; for a Hyuga, shifting focus was more like rolling one's brain. Muddying the waters still further, in order to fully take advantage of all the Byakugan had to offer, a Hyuga needed to train their mind to "roll" in multiple directions at the same time, allowing them to focus on different directions simultaneously.

It was said within her clan that the most practiced Byakugan user could well and truly focus on all directions at once; for Hinata, the majority of her vision was peripheral. She had only advanced to the stage where she could focus on three different things at a time in the heat of the moment; in a calm training situation such as this one, she could perhaps manage five or six. That wasn't counting the additional strain of long-distance vision, which allowed a Byakugan user to see farther than any other person on the planet could ever hope to—with vision that pierced even the thickest of walls and denses of fogs. Combining long-distance vision with multidirectional focus was considered the highest tier of Byakugan mastery, and the training exercise with which this could be accomplished was incredibly simple:

One finds a nice, thick patch of woodland, stands or sits in the middle of it, and counts the wildlife.

More specifically, one seeks out individual birds and animals, preferably stationary ones (keeping focus on multiple moving objects would be a great deal more challenging), and as one finds them, one keeps a fragment of their visual focus on each animal in turn. As you get better and better at the exercise, you steadily widen your visual viewing range and attempt to split your focus at least seven or eight times at any given range (this being the accepted minimum cut-off point for a member of the clan's Main Branch).

Taking in the forest around her, she extended her range, settling at her present limit—a quarter of a mile. Casting around for a target, she caught sight of a hornet's nest dangling from a low branch—heck, it had something alive _inside _it—and then sought her second target.

Seven or eight minutes of this passed, the Hyuga girl basking in the calm coolness of the night air around her. Then, suddenly, she saw something that broke her concentration, and the entirety of her visual focus snapped to the individual who had leapt into the "corner" of her vision somewhere behind and to the left of her.

It was a ninja, she realized, with the emblem of the Leaf etched onto his _hitai-ate _as on those of so many others in the village, but never before had Hinata seen a Konoha shinobi with such a... _predatory_ expression on his face. Really, the man looked downright evil, and strapped to a harness on his back was one of the biggest shuriken Hinata had ever seen—a four-point throwing weapon larger than the man's own torso. He was leaping and swinging deftly from branch to branch across the thick, twisting treetops, bearing northeast. If he maintained his current direction, he would miss her by a fair distance, but—

_That's... Mizuki-sensei, isn't it?_

No, it couldn't be. Pleasant, smiling-faced Mizuki-sensei? With that vicious, greedy look in his eyes, and that crooked sneer? But it was, there was no mistake. The face, that distinctive white hair and bandanna...

_Where is he going? What is he...?_

Hinata hovered on the brink of indecision for a long moment, and then, making up her mind, she stood up and set off—a stealthy sprint at the nearest tree, and then she ran directly _up_ the side of the tree, swung up onto a branch, a with a burst of chakra through her feet, sprang toward the northeast. She moved almost parallel to the path Mizuki was currently on, closing a little distance and a little distance and little more between his path and hers. She slowed her pace for a time, allowing him to draw ahead, and then quickened it again.

Then, something else appeared in her vision, directly in Mizuki's path. It was a small, lone shack in the woods. Leaning against the side of the shake, a large cylinder-shaped object propped up beneath one lazy hand on the ground next to him, was—

_Naruto!_

Hinata sped up, but another ninja entered her range of vision. Focusing on all three at this distance sent a small wave of dizziness through her head, which she resisted with a grunt. As she overcame it, she recognized two things: that this second man was Iruka-sensei, and that he was _also _headed directly toward the shack... and Naruto.

_Naruto-kun... what's going on?_

Hinata felt the first inkling of panic seeping into her bones and willed herself to stay focused and press onward, quickening her pace still further. But there was no hope of reaching Naruto before the other two—Iruka was practically there already, and Mizuki was almost—

_Please... please let me get there in time!_

**~V~**

**Author's Note:** So it begins. The next chapter will be the conclusion of the "Mizuki arc" (if it can even be called an "arc," it's all of four chapters long and could probably comprise a single chapter if I felt like doing it that way). I hope you all enjoyed the Hinata/Naruto sparring sequence there. I've never written a good and proper action scene before, so I'm anxious to hear what y'all think.

You may notice some... geographical liberties... in my descriptions of Konoha. Such as there being multiple swings and a playground on the Academy grounds, when the swing Naruto sits at is portrayed officially as a single lonely swing hanging from a tree with no other playground equipment in sight. This is partly for my own convenience, and partly because I can't be bothered to cross-reference my descriptions with every single anime/manga/videogame imagining of Konoha's layout. So for geographical purposes, consider AlterKonoha to be its own location, and forget anything you know about the official Konoha. Except for the great stone faces. Those bad boys are still exactly where they should be.


	4. IV: To Outfox a Fox

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is a _Shonen Jump _publication written by Masashi Kishimoto. I am neither _Shonen Jump_ nor Masashi Kishimoto. If that doesn't say it all, I pity you for your lack of perceptive prowess, and strongly advise that you _not _pursue the way of the ninja.

**~V~**

**- Chapter Four -  
><strong>"**To Outfox a Fox"**

**~V~**

Iruka Umino lay awake in bed that night, struggling with himself. Try as he might, no matter with what distraction, he hadn't quite been able to keep his mind from drifting to that one boy, the year's only reject, whom Academy regulation had forced him to fail... due to what Iruka knew to be an unfortunate technicality.

_Bunshin no Jutsu_, "Art of the Doppelganger," was classified as a basic "E-Rank" technique, and in all of Iruka's time at the Academy, there hadn't been a case quite as perplexing as Naruto Uzumaki's. The technique was so basic and so simple that if a student couldn't master it after an extended period of time, they probably had no affinity for chakra use at all—such students would invariably fail at most of the ninja arts taught at the Academy. Those were the children that would eventually be dropped from the program entirely, often before even having a shot at the Graduation Exam. Occasionally, instructors would encounter a dunce ninja who just happened to be bad at it while being mediocre at everything else, but that was a rarity.

Even Rock Lee, possibly the worst student to manage graduation _ever_ in the history of ninjutsu itself, had managed at least one passable clone when push came to shove.

Naruto, though... Naruto had to be one of the most promising students in the entire year. His grasp of the basics had improved exponentially in the time since his first failed attempt at the exam, and although sometimes patchy, he'd performed all other practical exercises the exam had demanded. It was just the Doppelganger technique that had held him back—a technique that so happened to carry enough of the ninjutsu practical exam's grade to put him just below passing. To Iruka's mind, this seemed horribly unfair.

But what was Iruka to do? The very reason he was respected as an Academy instructor was because of his strict by-the-numbers approach. It wasn't that he had a pole up his ass, but the lifestyle of a shinobi often left little room for error. Iruka had always felt that it was better to swallow your guilt at the sight of a crestfallen twelve-year-old than it was to learn three years later that the student you graciously _passed_ had gone and gotten their whole team killed due to some amateur screw-up.

_But Naruto... technically, yes, he failed. Even so, in terms of overall talent and potential, he's amazing for his age. He should be an example for ninja trainees to live by, not—!_

In his mind's eye, Iruka saw the lashing tails of the demon fox.

He saw its snarling maw, all gnashing teeth and malice, and its wild, mad eyes—visualized, clear as day, that hulking mass of red fur and certain death towering overhead, as a Leaf ninja swept him up in one arm. He heard himself screaming for the ninja to let him go, that his parents were still fighting back there—saw through his own eyes the grand memorial service for all of the ninja who had given their lives to hold back the Nine-Tails' attack, both of his parents among them.

He remembered the cold, impassive way he had regarded Naruto during that first semester at the Academy. He remembered Naruto's half-hearted, lackluster performance, and the way the students would rag on him when he failed. He remembered those hate-filled eyes directed at the rest of the class whenever Naruto had thought they hadn't been looking.

And he remembered the day, some time after failing the first exam, when Naruto had seemed to... just become a different person. His calm eyes, his rapt attention, his sudden _enthusiasm_, and the way the teasing had just seemed to float right on through him and out of the schoolyard entirely. Steadily, Naruto's performance had picked up, until finally, in the previous months, the boy had nearly reached the point where he'd be a contender for Rookie of the Year.

It was... so _hard_ to see the demon fox in Naruto these days.

Now, Naruto's quiet departure from the examination room that afternoon just kept playing out in Iruka's mind.

Iruka thought again of that day when he had told the rabblerousing urchins in his class not to make fun of Naruto... or rather, not to _bother_ with him.

_Naruto didn't deserve that. He doesn't deserve any of it._

If he really was the demon fox, those hate-filled eyes would never have given way to such tranquil acceptance.

Iruka decided then and there that he would appeal to the Third Hokage in the morning. He would explain Naruto's situation to Sarutobi, and perhaps the Hokage would authorize an exception. _No,_ Iruka thought, _there's no "perhaps" about it. It was the Third Lord who convinced me to take Naruto into my homeroom class to begin with. Hokage-sama has always been looking out for Naruto's well-being where others have not, even if only from a distance. I'm sure he'll be understanding._

Iruka smiled. Yes, the Hokage would almost certainly—

Three fast knocks on his door jolted him from his hopeful thoughts.

"Iruka! Are you awake? It's me, Mizuki!" the voice on the other side called, knocking still harder. "Get up! It's an emergency! Naruto, he—we have to report to the Hokage Tower _right away!_"

Iruka sprang into action with the practiced grace of an experienced shinobi, his hands seeming to act of their own will as he snapped up his shuriken holsters and Chunin vest. It was less than ten seconds; by then he was suited up and at the door.

He yanked the door open. Mizuki stood there in full ninja gear, beside himself with panic.

"What's the situation, Mizuki?" Iruka asked, closing the door and locking it behind him. "What's this about Naruto?"

"Naruto, he—I don't know how, but Naruto somehow—he found out about the sacred scroll!" Mizuki said, tripping over his words. "He stole the scroll from the Archives! We don't know where he is, or what he plans to do with it, but—"

Iruka felt the color drain from his own face. "The sacred scroll? _That _sacred scroll?" Mizuki nodded quickly, and sprinted off. Iruka followed.

_The forbidden scroll that the First Hokage sealed away? The ninja arts detailed within—if that scroll were to fall into the hands of a hostile village, or if the techniques within were leaked... this is bad! But..._

Iruka's brow furrowed.

_How could Naruto have learned such a secret? And why... how... Naruto isn't... is he?_

His pace quickened, and he shut the train of thought down without a word. It was time for Iruka to stop being a teacher, and to start being a tool for his village.

When the Hokage briefed the gathering of Konoha shinobi and gave them the order to sweep the village, he did so with efficiency befitting his station.

He knew one thing the others didn't: that one of Naruto's favorite haunts was the forest near the Academy.

He would check there first.

**~V~**

Naruto was growing steadily more annoyed by the minute. It had been three hours since he'd "stolen" the "sacred scroll," and as much as Naruto enjoyed some quiet solitude... waiting for his "benefactor" to make a move was nerve-wracking.

_Mizuki-sensei is a Chunin. I... am a reject. Failed my graduation exam three times. Three times, yet! I must be off my goddamn rocker to have suggested this plan._

The "forbidden sacred scroll" stood next him, taller than his own torso and nearly as thick, supported by one lazy hand as he leaned with his back to the shack. He didn't know (or care) what this building was for, but Mizuki's oh-so-cunning plan obviously involved him being isolated back here where only Mizuki himself would know to look.

_...I've let him think he has me fooled, Hokage-sama. One accusation from an undergraduate trainee is hardly compelling evidence to pin something like treason on a man..._

The Hokage had been ready to dispatch shinobi to apprehend Mizuki, but had for whatever reason deferred to Naruto's idea when the boy had divulged what he had in mind.

_...so let his own actions damn him. Catch him with his hand in the jar. That's the only way you can be sure, right? Besides, for all you know, I could just be making this up to get back at Mizuki-sensei... wouldn't it be best to make sure I'm telling the truth?_

At the edge of his awareness, Naruto picked up the faint sound of feet on tree branches—the sound of a ninja approaching at too hurried a pace to bother with sufficient stealth. _He's here, _Naruto thought, tensing at the ready. _He probably thinks he doesn't even have to sneak up on me. After all, why would he? I'm a dunce who couldn't even get cloning down. It's not like a _Chunin _would have any trouble at all taking _me _down—_

Naruto blinked dumbly when Iruka Umino leapt from the trees to stand before him, panting from exertion with a pained look on his face.

"Naruto," he grunted. "So... it's true. I never would have thought it of you. So, why? What are you doing with the sacred scroll?"

Naruto frowned. This, he had not expected. From the very stench of the plan, he had expected Mizuki to alert the village of Naruto's heinous act of burglary before running off himself to dispose of his young patsy and claiming the scroll for his own purposes. He hadn't counted on the Hokage's search party being faster than Mizuki himself. Iruka wasn't in on the plan, and if Naruto gave it away before Mizuki was exposed...

Naruto grinned that foxy grin of his. "Aw, hell, Iruka-sensei, I didn't even have time to start. This isn't fair! Come on, can't I have a little more time? I got the scroll, didn't I?"

Iruka's "disappointed mentor" expression gave way to confusion. "Er... huh?" He said, and Naruto almost failed to resist a laugh at how easily the ninja had been knocked for a loop.

"Mizuki told me about the test, see? Because I was so close to passing, you know. Any ninja who successfully infiltrates the Archive and steals this scroll, then remains hidden long enough to master at least one technique, will gradua... Iruka-sensei? What's wrong?"

Iruka's face was blank with shock. _Mizuki?_ his brain echoed in disbelief.

Then, he heard the faint whoosh of shuriken just as Naruto yelled, _"GET BACK!"_

At the shout, Iruka reflexively hopped several paces backward as Naruto drew his kunai. The red haired boy twisted to one side, deflecting with his knife what throwing stars he failed to dodge. Iruka had no time to wonder where Naruto had learned to deflect shuriken so accurately; he was too busy taking in the appearance of the attacker, a ninja perched on a high branch some ten yards away. White hair. _Hitai-ate_ worn bandanna-style. And his trademark, overlarge shuriken in its harness at his back.

"Mizuki," Iruka spat. "So it _was_ you."

Mizuki was eying the red-haired boy warily now.

"What's with the flabberfucked look you got goin' on there, Mizuki-sensei? You didn't actually think I'd _fallen_ for your little scam, had you? I mean, really," Naruto laughed. "You don't get my test scores by being an airhead."

Iruka glanced at Naruto in surprise. The whisker-faced boy now had a positively evil look on his face as he stared up at Mizuki, twirling his kunai in one hand as he supported the scroll with the other.

"So you've been expecting me," Mizuki said evenly, straightening up to a perfectly-balanced standing position on his treetop perch. "I guess I underestimated you. But I see you've brought me the scroll, anyway." He stared at the manuscript, frowning. "Why?"

"Hm," Naruto murmured. He kept on twirling that kunai of his, seeming almost careless about it as he looked down to regard the overlarge scroll himself. "I don't know. It just seemed like a good idea at the time."

_A good idea at the time? _Iruka looked to Naruto as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I was all stressed over failing the exam," Naruto chuckled. "I have to blow off steam somehow, right? So I figured, why not... raise a little hell?"

Mizuki's eyebrows nearly shot up into his bandanna at that. Iruka looked as if he'd been stabbed in the gut. After a moment, Mizuki threw his head back and laughed—a long, hard, hearty laugh.

"Well, well!" he exclaimed. "I can't believe it! And here was me, thinking you had actually reformed. That you were some kind of model student." He looked directly into Naruto's eyes, grinning a beastly grin. "But it looks like, deep down... you're still the same vicious demon fox you were when the Fourth sealed you away twelve years ago."

A sharp intake of breath from Iruka, then: "_Mizuki!_"

Naruto's sardonic expression was replaced by dull, perplexed shock.

A few seconds of silence passed by, with only the light breeze of the wind to break it.

Naruto's face contorted into something resembling terror, and then, quick as it had come, it was gone: Naruto's expression had reverted to the same calm, impassive one he'd worn every day in class for the past year.

With a cool, flat, clinical tranquility:

"...You wanna run that by me again?"

**~V~**

In later years, Hinata would look back at the incident and recognize the irony of her position at the time. She was, as before, hiding behind a wall, watching Naruto. Of course, on all of those previous occasions she'd simply been too bashful to approach the boy she had come to respect and admire; in this case, she was remaining out of sight to ascertain the situation and render assistance if assistance was necessary.

At that moment, she was frozen—both in the sense that she couldn't will herself to move or even breath... and in the sense that her blood suddenly seemed so cold. The shock of Mizuki's statement had almost jolted her enough to shut down her Byakugan.

So she stood there, stock-still, back to the wall on the opposite side of the shack, pale as a ghost. From the depths of her memory, her grandfather's enigmatic warnings floated to the surface.

_Hinata, I'm warning you. Stay away from that boy, for your own good._

_...Feh. Fine, then. Do as you will. On your own head be it, girl._

Hearing Naruto speak so casually about "raising hell" by stealing the scroll had been bad enough, but Mizuki's pronouncement that Naruto was the...

"...Wanna run that by me again?"

Hinata's breath returned in the form of short, inaudible gasps as she slid slowly to her knees. Her mind flew to the photo of her deceased mother that she kept at her bedside back at the compound.

_Your mother was a strong and noble kunoichi of the Cadet Branch, child. She died well before her time. I wish you could have known her._

_All because of that damned fox...!_

Mizuki's voice cut the air with another laugh.

"Oh, this is rich! And you don't even know..." Cruel mirth dripped from every syllable. "So the demon within just sort of comes naturally to the surface, huh? Can't say I'm surprised. The others were right to be so wary of you, demon-brat."

"Mizuki," snarled Iruka. "You know it's forbidden to speak of this—"

"No, let him speak! I want to hear this!" snapped Naruto, audibly losing his composure for the first time since Hinata had arrived.

"Oh, it's not a very long story, and you know the important parts already," Mizuki said—almost sang. "Big, bad demon fox goes on a rampage, kills a lot of good people, and the Fourth Hokage rides up on a giant toad to save the village. What you _didn't _know until now is that he did so by sealing the Nine-Tailed Fox inside of _your body._"

"Mizuki!" Iruka yelled, almost pleaded.

"I'm sure you noticed, right? How the adults all seemed to hate your guts for no reason at all, how the children kept their distance or outright tormented you—I'm sure their parents got around that 'no talking about the super-top-secret-demon-fox-brat' problem by just warning their kids to stay away from _that dangerous Uzumaki boy_. And as for Iruka, here?"

Mizuki chuckled. Iruka growled, "_No, Mizuki, stop this—"_

"He's an orphan, too, you know," Mizuki crooned. "I'll give you one guess how _his _parents died..."

Through her Byakugan, Hinata saw Naruto's impassive expression twitch a bit, as if he'd been stung. Her mind was a whirlwind of denial. _No... no! He's lying. Mizuki is lying. Naruto, he's kind and strong and... and he's no demon! _

_...You!_ Her lip curled into an unconscious snarl as she focused all of her sight on Mizuki. _You're enjoying this! Enjoying the idea that... that his whole world is falling to pieces around him... you... you..._

"So," Naruto said softly. "That's how it is, hm...?"

Naruto snapped up the scroll by the shoulder-harness fastened to it. "Mizuki!" he said, dropping the -_sensei_ honorific. "You want the scroll? _You can have it."_

And Hinata, slack-jawed with disbelief, saw him throw the scroll through the air into the waiting arms of the white-haired instructor, who was surprised but not at all displeased.

"I'll take care of Iruka-_sensei,_" Naruto said coldly. Mizuki simply smiled for a moment longer and then leapt away.

Naruto turned to regard his instructor. Iruka drew his kunai, taking a step back.

Hinata tried to stagger to her feet, but found that she couldn't move at all. A cold sweat had broken out on her brow.

"Don't do this, Naruto," Iruka said. "I'm not your..."

Iruka trailed off, and Hinata physically turned her head to look at Naruto through the walls of the shack. He had raised one finger in what the two had momentarily mistaken for a hand-sign.

It was no such thing. It was, in fact, a finger placed over his smiling mouth in the universal "shush" signal. The impassive expression had been replaced by an impish, mischievous expression.

Naruto mouthed or whispered something—Hinata couldn't make it out—and then transformed into a perfect copy of Iruka, sprinting off in the direction Mizuki had run. Iruka, looking the very image of "taken aback," just stood there with a dumb look on his face for a few seconds before moving to follow.

Hinata, feeling like the stupidest person in the room at this point, could only widen her viewing range and follow at a distance, with as much stealth as her limited training could offer.

**~V~**

It didn't take long at all for Mizuki to detect pursuit, so when he reached a small clearing in the woods, he smirked, and twisted around in midair to launch his massive shuriken at the man hopping 'mongst the branches behind him. Iruka easily dodged the shuriken, which cleanly sawed through several tree limbs as it flew. Mizuki deftly evaded Iruka's counter—several of the "bite-sized" brand of throwing star aimed with expert precision at all eight of Mizuki's vital spots.

Mizuki let himself land on the grass in the small, natural arena he'd stumbled on and turned to face his pursuer, who in no time stood in front of him at the ready, kunai in hand and ice in his eyes.

"I suppose it was too much to hope that the demon-brat would be able to delay you," Mizuki lamented with an obvious feigned sigh. "So was it a one-hit kill, or just a one-hit _beating_?"

"Naruto was being obstinate, so I put him to sleep for a little while," Iruka stated coolly. "Speaking of obstinate... Mizuki. Stealing the sacred scroll, and using Naruto to do it? If we weren't standing here in the woods, about the fight to the death over it, I would never have believed you capable of such a thing. Is it selfish gain, or are you selling us out...?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Mizuki sneered, and with that, snapped out another barrage of shuriken before drawing his own kunai and rushing at Iruka in their wake.

The shuriken all hit their mark—or appeared to for an instant, until their "mark" revealed itself to be a random chunk of deadwood from the forest floor. Not fooled for an instant, Mizuki whirled around to deflect the two shuriken aimed at the side of his head as Iruka showed himself to be standing to the left and behind.

Iruka sprang into the air with a burst of chakra through his feet, taking a massive leaping stab. Mizuki could hardly believe the instructor could be so sloppy, and laughed aloud at his good luck—

—and then the scroll dangling from his shoulder suddenly _exploded_.

Mizuki screamed in agony as his entire right arm was engulfed in a ball of flame. He was thrown forward, directly into the path of Iruka's downward stab—

—but Mizuki was no slouch, and despite the searing agony that ripped through his entire right side as the hidden incendiary tag's effect died out, he managed to stagger out of range. Iruka sailed harmlessly past Mizuki as the white-haired man found his footing again, growling away the pain. The front of Mizuki's Chunin vest had fallen to the forest floor in the position where the man had been when the trap had gone off, his kunai having speared itself in the grass not three feet away. Mizuki had lost his grip on his when the bomb had gone off.

Mizuki glanced at and gingerly tested his arm during the brief reprieve Iruka's recovery allowed him—he could move it, but his vest and sleeve had been burned away and he was so badly burned that it was excruciating to move at all.

Iruka rounded on Mizuki, who shouted a desperate, furious denial: "Th-that... _THAT FUCKING DEMON BRAT! I'LL KILL HIM FOR THIS, I'LL—"_

Iruka rushed him again—Mizuki backpedaled, raising his last good arm to block a slash to his throat—

And before that slash had even properly begun, a burst of smoke enveloped Iruka. Mizuki let out a startled cry—caught sight of a whipping red ponytail as a boy no older than thirteen burst from the smoke on Mizuki's right-hand side. A vise-like hand shot out and grasped Mizuki's burnt arm, twisting it behind his back.

The pain almost blinded Mizuki, and he reflexively thrashed to escape it... or started thrashing. Then he froze, eyes wide as tears of pain leaked freely. Gritting his teeth against the agony, he sucked in a sharp hiss and stood as still as he could will himself to.

Sudden movements were a bad idea when you had a kunai knife pressed to your throat.

The boy who stood behind the white-haired instructor leaned into Mizuki's right ear. Mizuki shuddered as felt Naruto Uzumaki's hot breath on his face.

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear, Mizuki-_sensei._"

"D-demon... brat...!" gasped Mizuki.

"At your service, jackass."

**~V~**

Hinata somehow remained silent, but couldn't resist a small fist-pump to let off her feelings as she witnessed Naruto's victory from her vantage point behind a tree not far from the clearing. Some fifteen yards ahead of her, the real Iruka stood behind his own tree. Hinata imagined that her own face was mirroring the stunned look on her teacher's right about now.

But no sooner had the battle ended than several agile forms entered her Byakugan's field of vision, and she realized that this might not be a good place to be caught eavesdropping in a moment.

From multiple directions—thankfully, not from the direction of the shack itself—more Leaf shinobi were approaching at speeds she couldn't hope to match. There were three, and what's more, one of them bore a familiar white cloak and wide, regal hat. Another was clad in a black, hooded cloak and an animal-patterned face mask: the standard uniform of ANBU Black Ops agents.

Somehow, she didn't want to be found skulking around out here like this. Not after...

_Not after learning the truth._

Hinata turned and fled, heart beating at her ribcage like a drum.

_I don't want Naruto to know that I... heard all of that._

_I don't want him to think I'm afraid of him._

So she returned to the shack where that earthshattering revelation had been dispensed, and then set off for the Compound, going out of her way to take the most roundabout route she could manage.

**~V~**

As the real Iruka emerged from cover to assist Naruto in restraining the "half-baked" con-artist, he heard Mizuki snarl, "You—you destroyed the sacred scroll! Why—when—"

"The sacred scroll never left the Archive, you moron," Naruto said. "That was a fake, which was generously provided by the Third Hokage. I didn't sneak into the Hokage Tower to take the scroll, I snuck in to rat you out."

"Y-you..."

Iruka roughly took Mizuki's good arm and twisted it behind him, taking satisfaction in the yelp of pain that escaped his former friend when the sudden movement set the burns off again.

"If you're curious," Naruto said, "it was actually a timed incendiary explosive seal. The moment it loses contact with my own chakra, it starts counting down. A little something I'd whipped up in my spare time... thanks for field-testing it for me, Mizuki-sensei! Really, I mean it. You're a peach."

Naruto heard a quiet chuckle from Iruka's direction.

"...This ended a lot faster than I'd expected it to," Naruto continued. "Originally, I'd just planned to delay you until Hokage-sama arrived with backup... and witnesses." Naruto sent a foxy grin Iruka's way. "But since we have a perfectly good witness here _already_, I figured I'd just set your ass on fire and call it a night. Simpler that way. Flashier, too."

"Urk..." choked Mizuki, looking truly scared for the first time that night. "The Hokage is—"

"—already here, Mizuki."

Mizuki jumped, then hissed as he cut himself on the kunai Naruto still held at his neck. He rolled his eyes to see elderly Hiruzen Sarutobi slowly shuffling around Iruka. Mizuki hadn't even heard the shinobi ruler approach.

"Mizuki... you disappoint me," sighed Sarutobi. "What is it, then? Money? Power? Have you sold your soul to another shinobi village?" The Hokage didn't even wait for Mizuki's tight-lipped response before saying: "No matter. A brief stint in Ibiki-san's interrogation chamber should drag the truth from you easily enough."

Mizuki paled, but Sarutobi had already turned away from him. "Iruka, I'm surprised to see you here. Did Naruto alert you to Mizuki's little scheme as well? He didn't mention you as part of his plan."

"...No, Hokage-sama," Iruka answered uneasily as two other ninja—one of which was ANBU—landed in the clearing from out of nowhere... putting Mizuki directly between the two of them when they did. "Er... what is this 'plan' you speak of?"

"Not much of one," Naruto said jovially as the two newcomers relieved him and Iruka of their burden. When he'd removed the kunai from Mizuki's throat, he tossed it easily into the air, snatched it back, and put it away. "Standard double-agent schtick. Best way to make sure the jacknozzle gets what's coming to 'im." He grinned and winked at Mizuki, whose eyes flared with hatred but who at least knew better than to do anything about it.

He then fixed the Hokage with a meaningful look. "Mizuki should've known better, trying to outfox a fox. He was bound to get burned. Right... Hokage-sama?"

Sarutobi returned Naruto's look with a mask of stone, hiding the frown that lurked just beneath the surface. Then he said, without turning to regard the criminal: "Sticky fingers _and _a big mouth, Mizuki? I think your sentence just got a little longer."

The man could only swallow his pride and exercise his right to remain silent while the ninja securely bound his arms and led him away.

Softly, the Hokage said: "Naruto, I think you deserve an explanation."

"_Really,_ Hokage-sama?" Naruto deadpanned. "Well, what the hell. Why not."

"Iruka, you've done well," said Sarutobi. "You may go now."

Iruka nodded, then started in the direction Mizuki had been taken. Before he left the clearing, though, he turned to face Naruto and the Third Hokage.

"Hokage-sama, I have a request," he said, "if you'll hear it."

"Speak," said Sarutobi.

Iruka looked to Naruto for a moment. The boy quirked his head to the side, just a bit. "That's your cue-card, sensei, I suggest you take it."

"Third Lord, sir," Iruka began. "I was planning to bring this matter before you in the morning, but now seems an appropriate time. This afternoon, Naruto failed to pass his Academy Graduation Exam. He performed adequately in all areas with exception to one."

Sarutobi said: "Yes, I'm aware."

Iruka nodded, then continued. "However... I am of the opinion that he possesses more than adequate aptitude to advance beyond the Academy level. His academic performance is sound, his taijutsu is above average, and his skill with ninjutsu and genjutsu is—for the most part—well beyond the norm for his age level. And in light of his actions tonight," Iruka added, "I would like to add that his perception, his loyalty to the village, and his ability to utilize the art of misdirection and the element of surprise all mark him as an individual with high potential as a ninja of the Leaf."

Naruto's good humor evaporated. He now wore his stunned disbelief plainly on his front vest pocket.

"Iruka-sensei...?" whispered Naruto, not daring to hope that...

"That is why," Iruka said, "I hereby request permission to make an exception for Academy trainee Naruto Uzumaki. I ask that I be allowed to present him with his badge of adulthood, and to promote him to the ranks of Konoha's Genin."

Naruto's breath caught in his throat, and he looked back to the Hokage.

"Hm, yes, actually, I was going to suggest that in the morning, too," the old man said, amused. "Great minds think alike, as they say. Permission granted."

Naruto could have died right then, and his life would have been complete.

**~V~**

**Author's Note:** As a "fun fact" for this chapter, the original mental outline for the Mizuki arc included a scene where Naruto demonstrates that the scroll is fake to Mizuki by opening it up and showing him the message inscribed within, which is: _If you paid for this, you got ripped off._ It didn't make the final cut, obviously, but I liked the idea regardless. I may re-use it sometime.

For those wondering: the time gap between the theft of the scroll and the scene where Iruka confronts Naruto is different because Naruto alerted the Hokage beforehand, thereby mobilizing his pursuit more quickly. In the manga, it takes half a day... this is partly, I assume, because Sarutobi spends a good chunk of that time passed out from a nosebleed.

And no, my version of Naruto will never learn _Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_ ("Multiple Shadow Clone Technique," the version of _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_ contained in the scroll, which is considered forbidden because for most people creating so many clones is too dangerous). Just to get that out of the way. He'll very likely learn the ordinary _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu _("Shadow Clone Technique") at some point in time, but not until later, and it will not be the defining element of his style the way it is Naruto's.

Hope y'all enjoyed the chapter. I'm really getting into it now, heheheh...


	5. V: It Doesn't Matter

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is a _Shonen Jump _publication written by Masashi Kishimoto. I am neither _Shonen Jump_ nor Masashi Kishimoto. If that doesn't say it all, I pity you for your lack of perceptive prowess, and strongly advise that you _not _pursue the way of the ninja.

**~V~**

**- Chapter Five -  
><strong>"**It Doesn't Matter"**

**~V~**

"So is there any particular reason you can't give me that explanation _now_?" Naruto asked evenly. An instant later, realizing how rude he'd sounded, he added: "Hokage-sama, sir?"

"The information Mizuki divulged to you in the forest tonight is classified as a secret of the highest order," Sarutobi said. He sucked in a small drag from the pipe he now held to his mouth. "If we are to speak of it, it must be in complete solitude. Out in the open like this, you never know who might overhear—and for your own sake, it must _remain _a secret of the highest order. You may have some inkling as to why this is, already."

"Fair enough," Naruto sighed, looking to the stars in irritation.

_If the kids at the Academy knew what I am..._

He had to repress a shudder. If the kids at the Academy had known what he was, there would be more to put up with than simple mocking or indifference. There would be undisguised hatred and fear—not much different than what Naruto had always picked up from a good portion of the village's adult population.

..._But still, the suspense is killing me..._

Mindful of the Third Lord's age, Naruto hadn't complained when they set off for the Hokage Tower at a comfortable walking pace. Patience was a part of being a ninja, and whatever Naruto might feel about the night's revelation, he was still in the presence of the highest-ranking shinobi in the entire Land of Fire... and that same man had just authorized Naruto's own graduation. There was a part of the boy that wanted to yell and scream and demand an answer _right now_, but it was an urge he suppressed without much trouble.

They now strolled down a side-street in the village, the forest a good distance behind them. Naruto's eyes were getting a bit heavy now—he reckoned he'd been running on a mix of adrenaline and pure stubbornness when he'd had his run-in with Mizuki. It didn't help that he'd found sleep hard to come by the night before his exam.

The waning moon was high in the sky when they reached the Tower, and the Hokage led him through a more legit entry point than he'd taken the last time he'd entered the building: the front door. The Hokage led Naruto up to his office, closing and locking the door behind him.

Naruto looked around the office as Sarutobi turned on the light. For the office of a shinobi village, Naruto thought it looked quite basic. Although the large windows behind the desk provided a magnificent view of the whole village, the contents of the room itself weren't remotely showy or opulent—merely functional.

Naruto's first thought was that the room embodied what good ninja were made of. He liked it.

The Hokage made his laborious way to the chair behind the desk, sighing out pipe-smoke as he sat. There were no other chairs in the room, so Naruto moved to stand before the Third Lord's desk. As Sarutobi took in a long drag from his pipe, trying to work out how to begin, Naruto spoke up first:

"According to Mizuki," said Naruto, obviously forcing his voice to remain calm, "the Fourth Hokage sealed the Nine-Tailed Fox inside of my body." He took a deep breath. "He was telling the truth, I gather?"

Sarutobi exhaled, then went about putting out and putting away his pipe. It was a long moment before he answered.

"Yes," he said at length. "More than twelve years ago now, the Nine-Tailed Fox attacked the Hidden Leaf. The Fourth Hokage thwarted this menace by sealing it away—specifically, he selected a newborn infant, its umbilical cord freshly cut, and trapped the essence of the beast within the child's body."

"And I was the lucky little thumbsucker that got saddled with the salvation of Konoha," Naruto deadpanned. "Is there any reason I wasn't told about this before now? Sir?"

Sarutobi folded his hands on the desk in front of him, supporting his chin on his hands in what Naruto's mind identified as the "Sasuke Position." Except, well, with less brooding.

"It was always my intention to tell you when you were old enough to bear the burden," the old man said. "I had thought that wouldn't be for several years, yet. If I may say so, you're taking this bombshell rather more... gracefully than I had anticipated." The old man waited in silence for a response. When Naruto didn't give him one, he continued: "Eventually I would have had to whether I wished to or not, considering the danger the Nine-Tails poses."

Naruto's brow furrowed. "Oh, good," he said with an exasperated laugh. "Dangers. It's not enough that it's trapped in my body, is it? Is that why the villagers always seemed so wary of me?"

"Not... exactly," said Sarutobi, sounding uncomfortable now. "There _is_ some possibility of the Nine-Tails' power breaking through the seal at some point in the future, but none of those alive at the time of the sealing know the specifics of your condition."

"Why, then?" Naruto asked, his frustration bleeding through into his voice. To the Hokage, he sounded just a little desperate—and a little sad.

"Fear," said Sarutobi. "It's as simple as that. The Fourth Hokage, when he died, expressed his wish that you be regarded as a hero by the people in this village, for your sacrifice, your part in containing the beast that had come so close to destroying everything we are and everything we hold dear."

He shook his head, stood up, and turned to look out at the village. He clasped his hands behind him and closed his eyes. Behind him, Naruto waited—his face was impassive as usual, but his hands were balled into fists, broadcasting his distress in spite of the boy's efforts to remain calm and respectful.

"...Unfortunately, the memory of that night is not easily left behind," Sarutobi sighed. "I knew it was too much to hope that the shinobi of that generation would ever accept you, so I had hoped that by forbidding any from divulging the truth, you might at least find acceptance amongst your own peers."

"That didn't fly, either," Naruto stated matter-of-factly.

"No," agreed Sarutobi. "No, it did not. After the sealing, I decreed that none may speak of your status as the human container of the Nine-Tailed Fox. Even those who whispered of it were punished severely. But this was not enough to prevent the fear and hatred of those who knew the truth from infecting those who didn't."

The Hokage looked over his shoulder at Naruto, whose expression was one of incomprehension.

"The children sensed their parents' intense feelings of fear and hate, and without knowing why, they emulated those feelings as children tend to."

"That and their parents warned them not to associate with that evil, evil Uzumaki brat," Naruto quipped, massaging the bridge of his nose.

"I imagine they did, at that," Sarutobi admitted. "And those children who received no such warning from their parents need only have followed the lead of those who had. In the end, the Fourth's last wish was spurned by those he gave his life to protect, and as the child who carries the weight of that sacrifice inside his very body... you were forced to live and grow under the cold gaze of a world that would, if it had its way, deny you even the right to exist."

Sarutobi sighed, and began to turn his head to gaze out at the village again—when he heard a derisive snort. He regarded Naruto with a raised eyebrow, seeing that the boy was smiling and chuckling to himself.

"Deny me the right to exist..." the boy echoed. "...like Hell..." He shook his head, and calmed himself. "Hokage-sama, is there anything else I need to know? If not, I'd like to go home. I need some time to process this, but it shouldn't be a problem."

Sarutobi thought about the question for a few moments before responding. In truth, there were a great many things the boy should be made aware of at some stage—that he was not the only such demon container, for example; or that the shinobi nations regarded entities such as the Nine-Tails as weapons, tools to be exploited... that there was always a chance that elements outside the Leaf might discover his "condition" and try to seize this "asset" for themselves. Or the identities of his mother and father...

Instead, Hiruzen Sarutobi said only this: "This information is still a secret of the highest order, Naruto. Take care not to dispense it lightly—for your safety, and the safety of those around you."

"You're not going to order me to keep it to myself?"

"I am going to _request _that you to keep it to yourself," Sarutobi said. "But," he added, "if there is anyone you trust enough to share this burden with... you have my permission to tell them."

Naruto nodded, and then turned to depart. As he opened the door and made to step through it, Sarutobi reminded him to present himself at the Academy between eleven 'o clock and three in the afternoon to fill out his ninja registration and have his identification portrait taken. Naruto assured the Third Lord that he would do so, and set out in silence for his run-down little corner of existence.

**~V~**

Hiruzen Sarutobi remained in his office, gazing out over the village he was sworn to protect with his life, for quite some time after Naruto had departed.

Yes, he reflected, Naruto had taken the bombshell amazingly well. When Mizuki had dropped it on him in the forest, this boy—this twelve-year-old boy!—had somehow managed to keep his composure and follow through with the task he had taken on. He had been patient and respectful about seeking his answers, and he had accepted the harsh truth without complaint.

What amazed the Third Hokage most was that the one question he had most expected the boy to ask had never once come up. Now, he wondered if Naruto had even thought to ask it.

The "question" in question was "Why me?"

As Sarutobi thought on this, pipe in hand and a gentle haze of smoke drifting up around him, he closed his eyes and saw his deceased successor in his mind's eye.

_He's a fine boy, Minato,_ he thought. _If you could see him now, I think you'd be proud of him._

Sarutobi stood there for several more minutes before extinguishing both his pipe and the light. When he turned in for the night, his last thought before drifting off to sleep was that if this night's events were anything to go by, the only child of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki would certainly grow up to be a fine shinobi.

**~V~**

Sasuke had assumed "The Position" by sheer force of habit as he sat alone at Ichiraku's the next day. He had been the first to arrive; this was usually the case for everything, be it school, sparring meet-ups, or lunch with his friends. If asked, Sasuke would have said it was because he had nothing better to do. The truth was a bit more complicated, but not exactly contrary to the statement.

Two minutes after Sasuke's arrival, Hinata Hyuga brushed aside the banners shrouding the noodle bar's entrance and slumped onto a seat, yawning loudly as she did. Sasuke sent her a questioning glance.

Hinata shrugged as she looked back at Sasuke (there was one empty bar stool between the two, reserved for Naruto), and said, "I had a little trouble sleeping last night." Sasuke grunted and re-assumed "The Position." Hinata, in spite of herself, giggled a bit. Then her humor subsided as she recalled the events of the previous night, shifting uncomfortably in seat. Naruto would be here any minute—

"Yo!"

Hinata jumped with a "Meep!" as the object of her thoughts poked that particularly ticklish part of her torso—_Damn it, Naruto! Stop doing that! _she squirmed silently—and vaulted into a sitting position on the seat between Sasuke and Hinata. Both of them turned surprised faces at their red-haired friend and his suddenly upbeat attitude.

"Heya, Sasuke, Hina-chan," Naruto said. "Old man, Ayame," he added with a nod to the owner of the establishment, who was making his way over to his three regulars. Teuchi's daughter, looking as sunny as ever, turned to them with a smile.

"Naruto! We missed you yesterday!" Ayame said. "Where were you?"

"G-good morning, Naruto-kun," Hinata said, trying to act natural... which was easier than she'd thought it would be, actually...

"Shall I take the brooding silence as a 'good morning' from you, too?" Naruto said to Sasuke, grin as foxy as always.

"Hn," grunted Sasuke. "You seem cheerful for an Academy reject. What's up?"

"Oh, don't get me started on that yet, 'cause boy, do I have a story for the you guys," Naruto said. "Oi, old man! Ramen's on me today, so I'll take the usual! What'll you two have?"

"I told you it'd be _my _treat," Sasuke reminded him, but Naruto just laughed.

"Nah, I wanna celebrate my graduation. And what better way than by treating my two most favoritest people in the whole wide world to lunch at the best ramen stand in the universe?"

There were a few seconds of stunned silence at this proclamation.

"Best ramen stand in the universe, he says," muttered a star-struck Teuchi, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye.

The moment broken, Hinata spluttered out something that went unheard as Sasuke exclaimed, "Wait, what? We thought you failed the exam!"

"I _did _fail, but I told you, I have a hell of a story for you guys," Naruto said. "A lot happened last night. Take your orders already, so I can tell it!" He winked at Hinata. "This one'll knock your socks off."

Hinata felt her face heat up, but it wasn't the usual pleasant kind of embarrassment she felt whenever Naruto showed some kind of flirting interest in her. She had a feeling she knew what story he was about to tell...

So Sasuke and Hinata ordered their ramen and Naruto launched into his tale. It started with Mizuki approaching him in the forest with a bogus story about a secret scroll that acted as a kind of "alternate exam" for students who showed promise but hadn't quite managed to score high enough on this or that portion of the exam proper. Sasuke had made a skeptical snort before Naruto had even finished explaining the lemon that Mizuki had attempted to hoist on him.

Hinata listened in silence as Naruto recounted the very incident she had witnessed in part through her Byakugan without his knowledge, barely touching her meal. Naruto, of course, left out the part about the Nine-Tails being sealed away inside his own body...

Teuchi and Ayame hung onto his every word as they worked, despite the relative business of lunch hour; Sasuke remained impassive until the part where Naruto recounted his defeat of Mizuki, which elicited a smirk from the prodigy.

"...so then Iruka-sensei helped me hold Mizuki until Hokage-sama arrived with reinforcements. And then Iruka-sensei asked Hokage-sama if he could make an exception and let me graduate! I could hardly believe it!"

Naruto slurped down the last of his ramen. "I don't have my Leaf headband yet, but I'm heading to the Academy to take care of registration after lunch."

As Teuchi and Ayame congratulated Naruto on his "past-due" graduation, Hinata stared down at her untouched ramen, trying to work out exactly what she was feeling at that moment. On the one hand, Naruto had graduated in the end after all—they would all advance to the rank of shinobi together, exactly as she had hoped. But she wondered what Naruto was really feeling at that moment—he'd always been one to keep his true feelings bottled up behind a smile and a confident demeanor, and after what Mizuki had said—

"Um, Hina-chan?"

Hinata's head snapped up. Naruto was giving her that same lopsided grin that he'd—

_Oh God, I thought I'd die from embarrassment when I woke up and realized I'd passed out in front of Naruto—_

—that he'd given her on the day they'd become friends.

"So, are you going to at least pretend to be happy for me, or are you going to keep trying to eat your ramen with your eyes?"

Hinata arranged her face into a smile. "I _am _happy, Naruto-kun," she said, and she meant it.

"Oh, good," Naruto said with an exaggerated sigh of relief. Then, seriously: "Hina-chan, is there something on your mind?"

Hinata blinked once. "N-no, Naruto-kun."

"You're a bad liar," Sasuke noted without looking, before picking up his bowl to drink the broth.

Hinata winced as Naruto nodded firmly and said, "Terrible, terrible liar. No talent for deception at all. Utterly and completely hopeless as a ninja."

"Naruto-_kuuuuuun..._" Hinata whined.

"But all jokes aside," Naruto said, sobering up, "is something bothering you, Hina-chan? You know you can talk to us, right?" He frowned. "Is that cousin of yours being a douchenozzle again?"

Hinata looked from Naruto to Sasuke and back again—even the stoic, brooding one was looking somewhat concerned, now. God, but these two... these two were such good friends, and now here _she_ was making them worry.

Hinata's smile was entirely natural as she said, "Don't worry about me. I'm fine." She turned back to her meal and picked up her chopsticks.

"It doesn't matter, anyway," she said happily. "But thanks for asking."

**~V~**

Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata set out for the Ninja Academy together. Sasuke had already filed his registration before meeting them at Ichiraku's, showing up at eleven on the dot. Hinata and Naruto had both slept in. Sasuke had opted to accompany them back to the Academy purely for the hell of it.

"It's not like I can spar without you guys," he'd said. Naruto knew this to be mostly bullshit; the boy had done more than his share of independent training on the grounds of the Uchiha Compound. Still, knowing that the resident antisocial angst-machine would rather spend time with his friends than with a training dummy made Naruto feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

When they walked into their homeroom, Iruka looked up from his desk, blinked when he saw who it was, and smiled. "Naruto! Hinata-chan! ...Sasuke?" he added. "Didn't you already come by earlier?"

"Hn," was Sasuke's only response, so Naruto shrugged and said:

"Oh, you know how it is, Iruka-sensei. He just couldn't resist the lure of all those sextacular fangirls, he just _had _to come back for seconds—_oof!"_

Sasuke had nailed Naruto with a hard elbow to the ribcage. Hinata giggled.

"Uh... huh," Iruka said. "In any event... Naruto."

Naruto snapped off a salute. "Yeah, Boss?"

Iruka stood up and opened a desk drawer, extracting a folded blue cloth before turning to Naruto. "Just to make it official," he said, seeing Naruto's eyes light up at the sight of the swirl-patterned Hidden Leaf insignia on the unsullied _hitai-ate _forehead protector. Iruka held the item up in both presenting it to Naruto, who strode forward and accepted it with a victorious grin.

"Congratulations... graduate," Iruka said. "Do yourself, and your village, proud as you walk the path to becoming a true shinobi."

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei," Naruto answered with a bow. "I will."

Naruto turned to face his two friends, his smile widening. Sasuke smirked and Hinata outright beamed.

Iruka watched as the Uchiha and the Hyuga, almost as one, reached into their supply satchels and withdrew their own Leaf headbands. Hinata reached back with one hand and carelessly undid the knot on her cloth headband, revealing the Caged Bird Seal branded to her forehead. The three children looked each other in the eyes, and simultaneously, all three donned their _hitai-ate—_almost as if they'd rehearsed this moment.

_And to think the Uchiha and Hyuga clans had always had such chilly relations in the past,_ Iruka mused.

After that touching scene, Iruka instructed Naruto and Hinata to fill out the registration forms he'd given them. Then they were to report to the Hokage's office on the far side of the Academy to turn in their registrations and swear their oaths of service to the village and its leader. Once that was done and over with, all three were to present themselves to the photographer at the Hokage Tower to have their portraits taken in front of the great stone faces.

It was tedious busywork, but that bubbly feeling in their stomachs kept the two of them floating on through it. Sasuke mostly just hovered in the background the whole time. An onlooker may have thought he was bored, but those two who knew him best could tell he was in high spirits—they recognized the energy in his body language, and the slight spring in step as he led them to the Hokage's office.

**~V~**

"And here you are, Hokage-sama," Naruto said, holding up his registration form. Hinata stood beside him, and Sasuke hovered off the side, leaning against the office wall with his arms crossed—the Hokage had made no objections to his presence. Oddly, the old man had seemed pleased by it.

Sarutobi, sitting behind a simple school desk, took both Naruto's and Hinata's paperwork. Flipping through Naruto's, he eventually said: "Yes, it appears that everything is in order."

As he was skimming through Hinata's registration, however, the door to the office suddenly slid open—

"_OLD MAN! PREPARE YOURSELF!"_

—and a child's voice, obnoxiously loud, split the air. The three graduates looked on in puzzlement as a young boy—long, blue scarf trailing behind him—barreled into the room and charged ungracefully at the Third Hokage, who simply rubbed his right temple in agitation.

No sooner had the boy charged than he'd fallen flat on his face.

"Ow..."

Groaning and grumbling, the boy pushed himself to a kneeling position, rubbing his smarting cheek.

"Aha!" he declared. "It's a trap, right? You set a trap!"

The three graduates continued to stare.

Abruptly, the boy hopped to his feet and pointed an accusing finger at the closest person to him—which happened to be Naruto.

"You! You tripped me!" he said.

"...But I didn't do anything," Naruto deadpanned. At this point Hinata was overcome by a fit of the giggles. "Hey, uh, Hokage-sama," Naruto said. "Who's the squirt?"

"Squirt?" the boy repeated furiously.

"That... is my grandson, Konohamaru," Sarutobi sighed. "This is his second sneak attack today. I anticipate at least four more by dinner time."

"...Okay..." Naruto said. Then he took a few steps toward Konohamaru and got down on his knees, so he could look the boy square in the eye.

"What are _you _looking at?" Konohamaru snapped, hopping back a step... and then stumbling. Righting himself, he assumed what the room's other occupants identified as quite possibly the sloppiest rendition of the Academy taijutsu stance ever to grace the village with its failure. "That was a cunning trick, but I'm on to you! You won't trip me a second ti—OW!"

Naruto had jabbed Konohamaru, hard, in the forehead with his index finger. Konohamaru staggered backward several more steps, arms flailing round and round, before falling flat on his butt.

"Pro tip, squirt," Naruto sniggered. "If you want to assassinate Hokage-sama, you might want to work on your _footing _a bit first. And for the record... you tripped over your _own_ feet, genius."

Konohamaru rubbed his forehead, looking stunned. Hinata, giggling, cleared her throat to still herself. "You're so mean, Naruto-kun."

"_Honorable Grandson!"_

Naruto flinched, Hinata "meeped," and even Sasuke looked a bit perturbed at this latest newcomer. Standing in the doorway was a shinobi dressed all in black, with circular sunglasses and his headband tied bandanna-style. The man's appearance was unremarkable, but my God was his voice loud. And obnoxious. And just a tiny bit fruity.

"_There_ you are, Honorable Grandson," the man said, closing the distance between himself and Konohamaru in a single stride.

Konohamaru cast one sour look at the man and then crossed his arms. "Oh. Hi, Ebisu-sensei," he mumbled.

"You shouldn't be sitting on this floor, Honorable Grandson, it's filthy," Ebisu said, waggling a finger at the boy, who, grumbling, compliantly stood up.

"Well, then," Naruto said, standing up, "with that little distraction out of the way, we can get back to the whole oaths-of-service thing."

Naruto gave Konohamaru's head a few hearty pats.

"H-_hey!"_ the boy stammered.

"Take care, squirt. And remember to work on your footing," said Naruto before moving to stand before the Hokage's desk again.

**~V~**

The elite ninja instructor in charge of Konohamaru's pre-Academy training was at first appalled by the flagrant lack of respect that this red-haired boy was displaying for the Honorable Grandson of the Honorable Third Hokage, but then he recognized those whisker marks and it all made sense.

_The Nine-Tailed Fox,_ he sneered silently, feeling his own lips curl in distaste. _The village disgrace..._

Naruto stood before the Hokage next to an indigo-haired girl, who was—

—who was looking directly at Ebisu, her face a portrait of disdain.

Ebisu felt his own expression falter. At that moment, Naruto glanced at his female friend, then at Ebisu.

**~V~**

Naruto's eyes met Ebisu's. Ebisu's expression hardened.

"Honorable Grandson, it's time for your afternoon shuriken training seminar," Ebisu declared, turning to where the boy stood. "Let us be gone from... here?"

He ended it as a question because Konohamaru was no longer in the room with them.

"Honorable Grandson!" wailed Ebisu. "Honorable Grandson, where have you gone?"

"He slipped out while you were glaring at Naruto, but I have no idea where he's going," Sarutobi said, sounding sublimely unconcerned.

At that, Ebisu... shrieked. There's really no other word for it. He shrieked, and bolted for the door. A distressed cry of "_Honorable Grandson!"_ could be heard as he bounded down the corridors of the Academy like a madman.

Sarutobi's left eye twitched.

Naruto just said, "...Huh..." and faced front once again.

Hinata and Sasuke, on the other hand, took a good while longer to get the ringing out of their ears.


	6. VI: Teachers

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is a _Shonen Jump _publication written by Masashi Kishimoto. I am neither _Shonen Jump_ nor Masashi Kishimoto. If that doesn't say it all, I pity you for your lack of perceptive prowess, and strongly advise that you _not _pursue the way of the ninja.

**~V~**

**- Chapter Six -  
><strong>"**Teachers"**

**~V~**

Certified graduate or not, Naruto still wanted to get that damn Doppelganger technique down. This he announced as they left the Academy, having delivered their identification photos to the Hokage's office.

"What's the point?" said Sasuke. "You've already graduated, and besides—the Art of the Doppelganger is only any good for fooling civilians and low-level ninja."

"It's not about the technique itself, Sasuke," Naruto replied, shaking his head. "The thing is... whatever problem I'm having with my chakra control that makes this Jutsu so impossible? I want it dead. Gone. Finished. Got it? I am _mastering _this Jutsu no matter _how _much time it wastes. So, any ideas?"

He looked to Hinata as he said this, who shrugged uneasily. "I d-don't know, Naruto-kun, but..."

"'But' what?"

"Well, I've been thinking about it a bit... and I think..."

"You've been thinking, so obviously you can think," Naruto said dryly.

Hinata mock-pouted, then continued: "I _think _you just have more trouble manipulating chakra... outside of your own body."

"...Eh?"

Sasuke did that moody little "Hn" grunt of his. "Makes sense," he said. "Most of the Jutsu taught at the Academy requires the user to manipulate chakra within or in very close proximity to their own body, whereas the Doppelganger requires you to expel chakra and manifest it—then maintain and control that manifestation—externally. It doesn't require much more power than Transformation, but..."

Naruto's eyebrows crunched together. "If it takes _more_ power than Transformation, then why can't I _undershoot_ the power requirement?"

"Hm... I can't say for sure, but..." Hinata clasped her hands behind her back, looking at the sky thoughtfully. "If it's harder for you to control chakra outside of your body... maybe it's also harder for you to control how much chakra you use for those kinds of techniques?"

"Ggh," Naruto growled. "Well, what am I supposed to do about that?"

"There are exercises that can be done to increase one's chakra control, but they take a lot of time to master—"

All three stopped in their tracks, staring at a patch of wood fence that was obviously _not _a patch of wood fence. Rather, it was a sheet of fence-patterned camouflage. This was a very basic ninja concealment technique, called the Cloak of Invisibility. Used _properly_, it allowed a shinobi to hide unseen behind a perfectly-positioned sheet of camouflage that would completely fool one's sense of sight.

Used _properly_, that is. This was an example of just about everything _not _to do. For one thing, the hands, feet, and hair of the individual concealed behind the sheet were poking out like warning lights. The sheet itself was sideways, the planks in the fence pattern running completely the wrong way. That it was also rippling in the breeze just seemed like an insignificant detail next to how badly the technique had been utilized.

Naruto blinked, and glanced at his two companions. Hinata just stared, looking as if she pitied the man behind the curtain. Sasuke was wearing his _that's so lame it's not even funny_ face.

Naruto leaned over to Hinata, cupped a hand to the side of his mouth, and said in a very loud whisper: "Maybe if we ignore him, he'll go away."

"Saw through my disguise, huh?" The sheet was tossed aside and there was Konohamaru. "You're slick, Boss! The rumors of your prowess don't lie!" He walked resolutely up to Naruto and stood at attention. "Please, take me as your apprentice!"

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, yeah, I'm pretty good at what I do... but you're a bit young to be worrying about whether you can cut it in the sack, aren't you?"

Hinata blushed, Sasuke groaned, and Konohamaru said, "Uh... what?"

"Guess that was bound to fly over his head, huh?" Naruto chuckled quietly.

"N-Naruto, you shouldn't make j-jokes like that in front of kids!" squeaked Hinata.

"Eh? Eh?" Konohamaru looked back and forth between Hinata and Naruto several times before saying: "Aha! It's some super-secret ninjutsu thing, isn't it?"

"...Ah... if anything, it's taijutsu..." Naruto murmured, "...you know, the _physical_ art."

Konohamaru, face lighting up with misguided understanding, exclaimed: "AH, I got it, Boss! You guys have to show me how to do it! Teach me, teach me, come on, _teach me!_"

Hinata's blush intensified to its maximum power level. Sasuke's face got to know his palm a little better. Naruto shrugged, grinned that foxy grin of his in Hinata's direction, and quipped, "I'm game if you are."

It was just a little too much for the poor girl. Her world went white and she was spared the pain of cracking her head on the pavement by Naruto, who caught her as she fell.

"You did that on purpose," Sasuke hissed as they bent to make sure their friend was okay. Naruto returned his accusing look with one of exasperation.

"I didn't think she'd pass out again! I just..."

He scratched at the whisker mark on his left cheek.

"She's just really cute when she's embarrassed, is all," he whispered. Sasuke rolled his eyes, and the two attempted to shake her awake as Konohamaru looked on in confusion.

**~V~**

"...Alright, Boss," a voice—a child's voice, and rather a bratty one at that—was saying as Hinata drifted back to consciousness. "So will you teach me that taijutsu thing you were talking about now?"

"_Patience_, grasshopper," another, older voice said. "First of all, that was a joke. Second, yeah, I'll help you work on your taijutsu. Or rather, _we_ will. Right? Sasuke?"

"Why am I getting dragged into this?" a third voice snapped.

Hinata found herself awakening in a sitting position, leaning against something—a tree? Her brain felt like it was wading through swampwater—what had just happened? Where—?

Her vision clearing somewhat, she took in her surroundings. _It's our training spot,_ she realized. _And before I passed out, that kid was there—and..._

Someone walked into her field of vision, kneeling in front of her. She blinked—red hair, whisker-marks, blue eyes...

"N-Naruto-kun..." she groaned. Then: "You d-did that on p-purpose!"

"Everyone's just lining up to question my chivalry today," sighed Naruto. "Anyway, you alright? Need a little time to rest?"

"N-no, I'm fine," Hinata insisted, and stood up to prove it. Brushing the dirt off her clothes, she took in the scene before her, which included an impatient Konohamaru and one very irate Uchiha.

"We were just about to give the li'l squirt some help with his taijutsu," said Naruto. Quietly, he added in a sarcastic mutter so that only Hinata could hear him: "That probably means teaching him how to fight from the ground up. This is gonna be _fun_."

**~V~**

Konohamaru plopped down on the grass, wiping a sheen of sweat off his brow. He'd been here for three hours now, and although they had taken a couple short breaks during that time, Konohamaru had never been so exhausted in his life. But it was weird—a kind of exhilarating sort of exhaustion that felt like... getting somewhere.

And he _was _getting somewhere. Things had started off pretty rocky, but...

**~V~**

"_Whaddaya_mean_, you won't teach me offensi-whatsits... stuff?" Konohamaru protested lamely. Naruto, who stood in front of him, heaved a long-suffering sigh. Off to the side, Hinata sat on her knees on the grass, watching the exchange in quiet amusement while Sasuke stood leaning against a tree behind her. (Konohamaru had never seen such a grumpy-looking dude in his life...)_

"_I mean," Naruto said in that I'd-better-speak-slowly-so-this-has-time-to-penetrate-that-thick-skull-of-yours voice, "that you're too small for punches and kicks to be effective, so it's better to focus on agility and evasion for now."_

"_I'm not SMALL!" Konohamaru growled. The moment he'd said this, he found himself flat on his ass yet again, rubbing his forehead—Naruto had jabbed him with his index finger. Again._

"_Yes, you are," Naruto said. "You're a squirt and that's the end of that. You'll get bigger as you get older, and you'll get stronger as you get bigger. In the meantime, get a head-start on learning to read, anticipate, and avoid taking hits in battle. In a way, that's actually more important than throwing punches or kicks of your own."_

_Konohamaru pouted as he got to his feet. "But if I can't hit the guy I'm supposed to be fighting, what's the point of all that other stuff?"_

_Naruto gave Konohamaru a look that said, _Seriously, did you really just ask that?_ Off to the side, Konohamaru heard the grumpy dude mutter something about "why I hate kids."_

"_Alright, let me make this real simple for you, squirt," said Naruto. "What happens if you don't see a punch or kick coming?"_

"_You get hit. Duh."_

"_Right. Now what happens if you see it coming but aren't fast enough to stop it from hitting you?"_

"_...You get hit."_

"_Right. Now, at what point during all of that 'getting hit' do you actually manage to score a hit on your opponent?"_

"_Um... I guess... er..."_

"_Learning to read and anticipate your enemy's moves allows you time to avoid taking unnecessary damage during a fight," Naruto explained evenly. "Training to increase your own speed, endurance, and acrobatic abilities, then, allows you to put your ability to _anticipate _enemy attacks to use and _avoid _or _block_ those attacks. Further down the line, when you actually _do _learn offensive taijutsu, you can utilize _all _of these skills in order to get around your opponent's defenses for maximum damage. If you find yourself fighting an opponent who is beyond you, mastering these skills will allow you to maximize your chances of survival. You'll have what you need to last out an encounter until backup arrives, or escape with as little injury as possible."_

"_...Oh," Konohamaru said. "Well, that's... yeah."_

"_Are you seriously telling me that your instructor hasn't taught you this stuff yet?" Naruto deadpanned._

"_...Uh... not yet, no."_

"_Ugh..."_

**~V~**

The next half hour had been filled with a lot of tripping and falling for poor little Konohamaru, as Naruto and a reluctant Sasuke demonstrated and instructed the boy in how to move swiftly in all directions without blunder. Eventually, Konohamaru had found himself facing off against the red-haired boy in a mock-battle: Naruto would "attack" Konohamaru, and Konohamaru would try to avoid taking "hits" without turning his back to Naruto or running away.

While this battle took place, Sasuke would occasionally chime in with sage (if grudging) pieces of advice which Konohamaru would then attempt (often unsuccessfully) to implement into his flimsy technique.

Not long after the "mock-battle" began, Konohamaru had toppled onto his ass once again, having been shoved roughly by the shoulder. He'd let out a snarl of frustration and hopped to his feet, but had been to ticked off to anticipate Naruto's next attack... which was a another prod to the forehead that had resulted in another butt-flop onto the grass.

**~V~**

"_Calm down, squirt," Naruto admonished him. "Get all riled up in a fight and you'll lose your focus. Lose your focus and you'll take a kunai to the skull. I don't know what a kunai to the skull feels like, but I don't expect it's a whole lot of fun, and one kinda needs their brain in one piece to, y'know, _not get killed._"_

_Konohamaru growled something unintelligible as he stood up, but a voice from the sidelines called out to him and gave him pause:_

"_Calm down, Konohamaru-kun!" said the indigo-haired girl who'd been watching their match since it had started. "Don't let the hits you take discourage you! Just take them like a ninja, and learn from them!"_

_Konohamaru stared back at the quiet girl, his bluster extinguished and his expression slack-jawed. _Did she just call me...?

"_Aw, you're quoting me now?" Naruto replied with a coy smile._

_Hinata blushed a bit at that, and suddenly seemed very interested in a passing blackbird._

She called me by my first name, _Konohamaru thought dazedly. _And not even something like 'Konohamaru-sama' or anything like that. She just called me by my first name.

_Suddenly he was full of energy and raring to go._

**~V~**

The last hour had seen the most progress. By the end, Konohamaru had successfully (if clumsily) managed to dodge eight attacks in a row without stumbling once, and at one point Naruto had attempted to surprise the boy with a low sweeping kick. Konohamaru, letting out a cry of alarm, had hopped over it. He'd landed on his behind rather than his feet, but instead of calling him on his poor footwork, Naruto had complimented Konohamaru for reacting in time to avoid having his feet kicked out from under him.

Naruto had called an end to their training session some time after that, saying he had his own training to take care of, but had offered Konohamaru his own bento as a "reward for working so hard today." So Konohamaru dug in as Sasuke and Hinata savored their own meals.

The sun was sinking into the west—sundown was a little while off yet, but it was getting a bit late. Konohamaru sniggered to himself as he imagined the distress his instructor, Ebisu, must be in even now as he scoured the village for his charge...

Konohamaru's three friends—the Boss, the grumpy dude, and the quiet girl with the weird eyes—sat huddled around him, the four of them together eating their bentos in a comfortable comfy little circle. It was a happy feeling, Konohamaru thought... being so casual and familiar with these guys.

"Hey, squirt?" Naruto asked.

"Stop calling me 'squirt,'" Konohamaru grumbled.

"Would you prefer 'bean-sprout?'"

Hinata nudged Naruto playfully. "Stop being so mean, Naruto-kun. He has a name—right? Konohamaru-kun?"

Konohamaru nodded firmly. "Right, Boss! I have a name! So use it!"

"Alright, _alright,_" Naruto said dismissively. "Konohamaru, then. I wanted to ask you something."

"Yeah, Boss?"

"What... was with the silly little sneak-attack thing you pulled back at the Academy?"

Konohamaru's chopsticks ceased their ascent halfway and drifted back to his bento, the morsel they held uneaten. Suddenly his contented mood had clouded over.

"...The Third Hokage is my grandfather," grumbled the boy. "So I'm always getting special treatment. My name is Konohamaru—like the village, right? So it should be easy to remember, right?"

"...Yeah, kinda hard to forget the name of the town you live in," Naruto said, head quirked to one side. "What's your point?"

"You guys are the first people besides my family to call me by my first name," muttered Konohamaru.

Naruto and Hinata looked to Konohamaru, their incomprehension obvious, but Sasuke stopped eating for the first time since their little dinner break had begun. He looked over at Konohamaru thoughtfully.

"Hn," he grunted thoughtfully. "...I get it."

Konohamaru looked to the "grumpy dude" in surprise. "Wait, what?"

Sasuke was silent for a moment, then turned to Hinata and Naruto. "You guys remember what I was saying about the kids at the Academy? Back when Naruto asked me about my... er... fangirl problem?"

Hinata's brow crunched up as she tried to remember, but Naruto nodded. "Something about them not caring about you as a person, right?"

"That's right!" Konohamaru exclaimed, looking comically furious. "Everything's all 'Honored Grandson' this and 'Honored Grandson' that! Nobody sees me for who _I _am!"

Hinata whispered "Oh!" and Naruto leaned back on his arms.

"Not seeing you for you, huh..." he mused. "Yeah, I think I get where you're coming from."

"I'm still not connecting the dots between 'nobody sees me for me' and 'I have to assassinate my grandfather,' though," Sasuke said dryly before returning to his food.

"I don't want to kill him!" Konohamaru insisted. "I just have to beat him! So... so..."

"So?" Naruto prompted.

"So I can become Hokage!" Konohamaru said. "If I can become Hokage, everyone will have to show me respect! And not just that stupid, fake 'Honored Grandson' respect! Real respect!"

"You're looking to step out of the old man's shadow," Naruto said.

"Yeah! That!"

"But Konohamaru-kun," Hinata said, raising her hands in a gesture of _calm down, kiddo,_ "you can't become Hokage by attacking your grandfather."

"She's right, you know," Sasuke murmured. He popped a bite of food into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. "Because you're still a little kid, it's just annoying. But if you were our age, it'd be considered juvenile delinquency. If you were an adult, it'd be a one-way ticket to prison."

"Well... well..." Konohamaru spluttered. "Then how do I become Hokage? The Hokage's the strongest ninja in the village, right? So I have to prove that I'm stronger than the old man, and I have to prove it _now_—"

He was interrupted by laughter. Cackling, in fact. He turned a furious gaze on the red-haired boy, who was slapping his knees, tears of mirth threatening to spill from his closed eyes.

"Hey, what gives?" Konohamaru exclaimed. "What's so funny?"

Naruto stifled his laughter with a hand over mouth as the other balled into a fist and struck his own collarbone.

"I said, 'what's so funny?'" Konohamaru demanded again.

"_You _are, bean-sprout my man," Naruto said. He wiped a small tear from the corner of his eye. "You say you wanna be Hokage, that you want to prove you're stronger than the wisest, most experienced man in the entire village, and you want it _now_. Gods above, I hope I was never this bratty when I was a squirt..."

"Naruto-kun..." Hinata protested, but Naruto waved her off before she could finish. He fixed Konohamaru with a serious look, holding up a hand to stave off another argument from the boy. Konohamaru had opened his mouth to speak, but in the face of the look Naruto was giving him, he snapped it shut.

"You can't just want something and expect it to happen, Konohamaru," Naruto said. "Especially not something like that. Hokage? The Hokage are among the most powerful men to ever walk this Earth. Their power, their skill and experience, their wisdom... all of it took _decades _of extremely hard-ass work to develop. You follow me, kid?"

Konohamaru looked skeptical. "Come on, it's only my grandfather. He couldn't be _that _special—"

"He is," Naruto insisted. "And the other three were just as special. Now listen to me, Konohamaru, and listen good."

Konohamaru sat quietly, seeming apprehensive; Sasuke, having finished his bento, turned an impassive eye on his red-haired friend.

"If you're serious about becoming Hokage one day," Naruto said, "the first thing you need to understand is that it's going to take a really, really long time. Years, in fact. It's also going to take a lot of _effort_. Today's little training game? Not even the tip of the iceberg. If you want it, you'll need to work up the will to fight for it—and you'll likely be fighting for it for the rest of your natural life."

Konohamaru's young eyes were wide, and he was mouthing something, but he remained silent and attentive as Naruto continued.

"If you really want the title of 'Hokage,' you'll need to quit it with these shenanigans and devote yourself _completely _to the dream," Naruto said. "There is no fast track, and there are no shortcuts. There are many roads you can take, but all of them are long, and each is an uphill battle." He leaned toward Konohamaru, fixing him with an intense glare.

"Are you," Naruto said slowly, "prepared to spend your life pushing a two-ton boulder up a mountain? Because that's what it'll take—blood, sweat, and tears. Gallons and gallons of 'em. You'll need to work your scrawny little butt off until you can't push yourself anymore. And then you'll get some sleep, and then you'll wake up, and then you'll work your butt off some more. Can you deal with that?"

Konohamaru was still, quiet, and for a while just stared at Naruto. But as Hinata watched the boy, she noted several things: first, that his expression had become less uncertain; second, that his hands had balled up into fists; third, that he held his head high, and his young shoulders proud and steady.

But before any of them could say or do anything in response to Naruto's lecture, a voice split the air and made all four of the children gathered in the clearing wince.

"_THERE_ YOU ARE, HONORABLE GRANDSON!"

"Oh, that's just great," groaned Konohamaru. "He found us..."

Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata all recognized the voice, having heard it only hours before. It had been obnoxiously loud, and just a little bit fruity. Now it was loud, fruity, and victorious.

From a high branch at the edge of the clearing, Ebisu stood and looked out over the group. His eyes drifted from Konohamaru to the red-haired boy with the whisker marks, and his triumphant expression turned cold.

**~V~**

Deftly leaping from his perch, Ebisu landed not three feet from the group of older children surrounding the Honorable Grandson of the Honorable Third Hokage. Ebisu's eyes were fixed on the demon brat, who was looking back at Ebisu with a raised eyebrow.

All four of the kids stood up, turning toward him, and Ebisu appraised each of them in turn. The raven-haired one left his now-empty bento box on the grass; his hands slipped into his pockets. This boy appeared completely undaunted, seeming almost bored, but Ebisu could tell that it was a front. The girl with the indigo-hair, whom Ebisu recognized as a Cadet Branch member of the Hyuga Clan, glanced uneasily at the Honorable Grandson before turning to really look at Ebisu; from her nervous demeanor, he judged her to be quite faint of heart. Was this really the girl who had glared at him so intensely when he'd seen her in the Hokage's office?

The Honorable Grandson was scowling at Ebisu, and behind him, Naruto was totally at ease, brushing the grass and dirt off the backside of his pants.

"Honorable Grandson, it's time for you to come back with me," Ebisu said smoothly, striding forward. "It wouldn't _do _for someone of your status to be seen in the company of such riff-raff as this—"

"He called us riff-raff," Naruto deadpanned. "Sasuke, did you hear that? He called us riff-raff. I am _so _insulted."

"They aren't riff-raff!" Konohamaru snapped. "They're my friends, and they've been helping me train!"

"Train?" Ebisu chuckled. "Honorable Grandson, of what _value _could, ah, 'training—'" he emphasized the word mockingly as his eyes returned to the demon boy, and his eyes took on that cold quality once again, "with one such as _this_ possibly hold? I am a Jonin, one of the elite, hand-picked by our Third Lord Hokage-sama to train distinguished individuals such as yourself in the ninja arts... following _my _teaching principles is the fastest road to becoming the next Lord Hokage. One such as _this—_"

"—is obviously a better teacher than you," the Hyuga girl cut in.

Ebisu gave a start and looked back at the weak-hearted girl in surprise... and there it was again! That hard look of disdain! She had taken a step forward, and this time her lip was curled up in the tiniest of snarls.

"I beg your pardon, young lady?" Ebisu said easily. "But what _wisdom_ could this urchin, who could not even successfully manage a basic Doppelganger technique, possibly dispense that I could not?"

**~V~**

"Hinata...?" Naruto was whispering, but Sasuke cut in and Naruto went unheard.

"Well, to start," Sasuke began in a flat tone, "that there _is _no shortcut or fast-track to becoming Hokage. He was just saying that before you got here, as a matter of fact. Right—Konohamaru?"

"Yeah!" the boy piped up. "Naruto said that if I wanted to become Hokage, I would have to accept that there is no easy way to do it, and work hard! Right, Boss?"

Konohamaru had turned to Naruto, who scratched at his whisker-mark and said, "Uh, yeah, I did say something like that—"

"You don't know _anything_," Hinata interrupted, still giving Ebisu the eyes of death, "about Naruto-kun."

Naruto, taken aback, looked back and forth between Hinata and Ebisu. Hinata neither flinched nor shrunk back; Ebisu's cold expression faltered, and the man cast an uncertain look at Naruto. Sasuke was giving Hinata an appraising sort of look behind her back, which Naruto recognized as the closest thing to "impressed" that ever crossed his face.

"...Anyway..." Naruto said in an attempt to break the tension. "We were done for the day in any case, so Konohamaru... when you're finished eating, you really should go back with your sensei."

Konohamaru looked crestfallen. "But... but..."

Naruto knelt down next to Konohamaru and whispered in his ear.

"I'm not telling you that you can't hang out with us or that you should listen to a word this guy was saying just now, but you heard him, right? This guy's a Jonin, which means he's miles ahead of any of _us_. He may be a bit of a screwball, but you can still learn a lot from him. Just work hard, alright? Don't skip out on any of your lessons, and if you still wanna train with me, we can do that whenever you're not working with _him_."

He pulled back, and winked. Konohamaru looked like he'd swallowed something mildly sour, but he snapped off an awkward salute and said, "Gotcha, Boss!"

Naruto stood up and said to Ebisu, "Let Konohamaru polish off the last of his bento, alright? He's all yours after that."

Ebisu looked mildly surprised for a moment; then he let out a halfhearted "Hmph," crossed his arms, and started tapping his foot impatiently. "Hurry up, then, Honored Grandson. We've no longer any time for your shuriken seminar this afternoon, so we'll have to make up for lost time tomorrow!"

Konohamaru looked up at Naruto, who simply nodded with a meaningful look in his eyes. Konohamaru grinned, then commenced to wolf down his bento.

As Konohamaru scampered over to his instructor and the two turned to walk back to the village, Naruto called after him:

"Hey, Konohamaru! If I hear you've been making any more half-assed assassination attempts on the Hokage, I'll kick your scrawny little half-an-ass myself!"

Ebisu made an affronted sound, but Konohamaru looked over his shoulder and said, "Don't worry about it, Boss! I'm done playing around!"

Ebisu looked down at the boy. _What? Did the Honorable Grandson just say what I think he said?_

Konohamaru grinned cheekily at the red-haired boy and said, "No more games for me! I'm gonna work my butt off and roll that boulder all the way to the top! Just watch me! Some day you'll be calling me 'Hokage-sama!' All of you will!"

Konohamaru turned back toward his objective, and began to walk, his steps full of determination and purpose. Ebisu could only follow numbly after him, lost for words.

"Take care, Konohamaru-kun!" Hinata called as the two disappeared into the woods.

As his two friends watched the boy and the obnoxious Jonin depart, Sasuke felt a small hint of a smile fighting to work its way onto his face. By the time his friends had turned back to speak amongst themselves, coming around at last to the subject of Naruto's chakra problems, he had managed to wipe the look from his face... but his own reaction had surprised him.

Was it pride? He was fairly sure it was.

All in all, he thought... training the little nosepicker hadn't been so bad...

**~V~**

Sitting alone in his office in the Hokage Tower, Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled. Then he waved his hand over the small glass viewing ball that sat on the cushion before him, dispelling the image of the clearing and its occupants.

That warm smile persisted as he extracted his pipe from its pocket and lit it up, breathing in a leisurely first drag.

The feeling that this particular grandparent was experiencing at that moment?

Pride. Without question. Pride in his grandson's first big step on the path to becoming a true shinobi... and pride in the budding mentor who had pointed the child in the right direction.

It was one of those feelings that reminded Sarutobi how old he was, but it was also a feeling that reminded him of something more important: of the very things that he, as Third Lord Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, had sworn to uphold and protect.

Moments like these were what made one's sunset years worth living.

**~V~**

**Author's Note #1:** Those of you who've been with me since the last chapter was uploaded may have noticed that the secondary genre for this story has changed from "Romance" to "Friendship." This is because I've decided where the different books for the first few major arcs of the series will begin and end, and this one will end well before the Naruto/Hinata romance elements actually kick in (despite the unveiled hints that this is where the story is going, it isn't happening for quite a while yet). Since "Book I" won't go into this beyond the "he likes her, she likes him" aspect, calling it a "Romance" at this stage would be misleading.

I hope this chapter was to your liking. With the "intelligent" Naruto trope going here, it's hard for me to write Naruto in such a way that isn't Gary Stu-ish, so it took me a little while to get this right. If I ever do write AltNaruto as an honest-to-gods Gary Stu, kindly backhand me in the face. Thanks in advance.

I've started a second, less ambitious story called _It's Like D__é__j__à__ Vu All Over Again_, starring Sakura Haruno. So those of you out there in Internetland who happen to be Sakura fans can get a little extra helping of Sakura from that. I'll be updating it mostly whenever I'm experiencing writer's block with this story, so the updates will likely be fewer and farther between.

As for Sakura's part in this one? Alas, that doesn't happen 'til the Chunin Exams, but fret not, Sakura fans! She may have been sidelined, but she's not out of the game yet!

**Author's Note #2:** Suddenly, it seems as if the Document Manager won't allow questions marks to exist next to exclamation points, so I can't write "exclamation questions." Huh... seriously, what gives?


	7. VII: And the Winner Is

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is a _Shonen Jump _publication written by Masashi Kishimoto. I am neither _Shonen Jump_ nor Masashi Kishimoto. If that doesn't say it all, I pity you for your lack of perceptive prowess, and strongly advise that you _not _pursue the way of the ninja.

**~V~**

**- Chapter Seven -  
>"And the Winner Is..."<strong>

**~V~**

Naruto felt something poking and prodding at his forehead. Through the muddy haze of sleep, he waved it off—slapped it aside with a wobbly backhand—and went on sleeping. But the poking and prodding persisted, and he could hear a familiar voice calling to him:

"Damn it, Naruto, wake up! You should have known better than to beat yourself into a stupor on the night before the orientation!"

_Oh yeah... that's right..._ Naruto mused, scratching at his stomach through his fishnet undershirt. _We were workin' on that—whatchacallit—tree-climbin' thing. And when Hinata and Sasuke called it a night, I said I'd stay out here a little while longer..._

Naruto realized that his bed was far too rough and uneven to be called a bed, and that something small and ticklish was skittering over one of his arms. Brushing the insect off, Naruto groaned and heaved himself to a sitting position. He'd been asleep on the ground in the usual training spot. Rubbing the sand from his eyes, he cast 'round for the source of that incessant prodding.

When he found it, he muttered, "Well, that gives new meaning to the term 'morning wood'—_OW!_"

And then Naruto was nursing a fresh bump on the top of his head, for Sasuke had thwacked him a good one with the wooden stick he had poked Naruto awake with.

"You can be really disgusting sometimes, you know that?" Sasuke grumbled.

"What can I say, Sasuke?" Naruto said, not missing a beat. "All that angst of yours would likely burn Konoha to the ground without a good, solid counterpoint to balance the karma. So, uh... what time is it?"

"We have less than five minutes until the orientation! You're lucky we're so close to the Academy, now get off your ass and _move!_"

Sasuke turned to sprint back toward the Academy, sparing a glance at the two tallest trees in the clearing as he did—these were the trees which he and Naruto had used for the tree-walking exercise Hinata had introduced to them the night before. Both trees had been horribly brutalized: long, deep gash marks from kunai knives ran up their sides, and in a few places were small craters just a little bit bigger than a human foot, as if the bark had been blown off the tree by a small-yet-explosive force.

Sasuke noted that he still had a significant lead over Naruto. The kunai marks represented their progress in focusing set amounts of chakra into the soles of their feet, in order to stick to the sides of their respective trees, running straight up them. This chakra-control exercise had been introduced to them by Hinata, whose clan had trained her in such advanced exercises from a very young age—precision chakra control, she said, was essential in learning the Gentle Fist style. All of this she had explained the previous evening... while standing _upside-down_ on the underside of a thick tree-branch, for all the world singing a silent "fuck you" to gravity.

**~V~**

"_Huh..." Naruto mumbled as Hinata hopped off the branch, neatly somersaulting to a standing position before him. "So that's what it was..."_

"_Hm, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked. "That's what 'what' was?"_

"_That girl in our class a while back, the one who snuck off to do some self-training and came back dead."_

"_Oh," Hinata said numbly. "Y-yeah, the newspaper made it sound l-like this is what she was doing."_

"_Well, it's cool and all, being able to walk up the side of a tree, and I can see how it'd be handy," Naruto said. "But what exactly is it about this exercise that makes it so good for chakra control?"_

_Sasuke, who'd suddenly been much more interested in Hinata's explanation since she had demonstrated how to walk up a tree and stand upside-down on the underside of one of its branches, stood next to Naruto. Although his expression was impassive as usual, his hands had left his pockets and his gaze had become slightly more intense._

"_With this exercise," Hinata said, "a ninja learns to focus and maintain a set quantity of chakra in a very specific part of the body—a part of the body that just so happens to be the most difficult place to focus one's chakra: the soles of the feet. Furthermore, by training until exact control of one's chakra becomes second nature, both in such a difficult way and under such stressful conditions, one improves their ability to keep one's focus razor-sharp during a combat situation. This exercise enables you to expend no more and no less than the required amount of stamina in any given situation, and in theory, if you can master this exercise... no Jutsu should ever be beyond your capacity to execute."_

_Naruto was smiling at her in that way of his, with his head quirked to one side—Hinata felt her cheeks heat up just a bit._

"_W-well, that's how my grandfather explained it," she added meekly. "Anyway, just use your kunai to mark your progress as you make your way further up the tree. Remember, though, the keys are concentration and moderation. If you use too much chakra, or too little, you'll lose your footing and fall."_

_Naruto and Sasuke both nodded, and then drew their kunai knives. They each turned toward the two tallest trees in the clearing—one over yonder and the other a little ways hither on the other side of their training spot—and readied themselves._

_Before they commenced the exercise, Naruto smiled over his shoulder at Hinata and said, "Hey, Hina-chan, I appreciate this. Really, thanks."_

"_S-sure," Hinata replied. When Naruto had turned to regard his chosen tree again, Hinata was struggling with a kind of giddy, relieved feeling. It was spreading from the butterflies in her stomach and threatening to overtake her very fingers and toes._

_As the exercise dragged on well past sundown, the foremost thought on Hinata's mind was that she was finally paying this wonderful boy back for all the good he'd done her. He had taught her so much, but now... now it was _she_ who was teaching _him_._

_It was the first time in her life that she had been really and truly glad to have been born a member of her clan._

**~V~**

Well, Sasuke still had a significant lead over Naruto, but in the extra training time Naruto had managed to force out overnight, the gap had certainly become a good deal smaller. Sasuke smirked, thinking he'd have to remedy that the next time they had a chance to work on that exercise...

**~V~**

Hinata fidgeted in her seat, glancing again at the homeroom door. Iruka had already arrived and would be starting class any minute now. The three-man bench she now sat in felt stupidly empty without Naruto and Sasuke to fill it. She'd reserved it for them, but she'd hoped they'd be back by now.

Naruto hadn't met either of them at the usual place (the swings), so Sasuke had grumbled something that sounded like "I should have known," and told Hinata to go on ahead and save them all a bench. Then he'd leapt off in the direction of the woods.

_Did Naruto work himself to death? _Hinata's panicked brain fluttered and fluttered. _Oh, gods above, please say he didn't work himself to death! Or—or—AH! He didn't fall off the tree and seriously injure himself, did he? Oh, I KNEW I shouldn't have shown him this exercise—_

Hinata shook her head and rubbed at her eyes, stilling her thoughts. No, Naruto wasn't that reckless. He was perhaps a bit too persistent when he thought he had a chance of soldiering through something, but he knew his limits and a little tumble off the side of a tree wouldn't do _him_ in.

_Faith, Hinata! Have faith! This is Naruto we're talking about, here!_

Nevertheless, when the classroom door slid open and Sasuke sprinted in, followed by a very scuffed-up Naruto, she breathed such a sigh of relief that she wondered at the fact that it'd taken only two lungs to contain it. The rest of the class fell silent, turning almost as one to regard the spectacle of the pair who'd barged in at the absolute last second.

Iruka, who had stepped up front-and-center before the class, looked up from his clipboard and gave the two a look of exasperation. "Well," he said, "I'm glad you two decided to join us. It doesn't look good on your record if you go A.W.O.L. on your very first day."

"Heh heh... sorry, Iruka-sensei," Naruto chuckled uneasily as he made his way to a seat. "We, uh, had to save a tree from a cat. Yeah."

Iruka gave him a withering look and said, "Take your seats."

And so the two joined Hinata at their usual desk.

"Now that everyone is present and accounted for," Iruka said, "we can get down to brass tacks."

Iruka looked each and every student in the room square in the eye, ensuring he had their complete and undivided attention. When he did, he began:

"Each and every one of you in this room has proven yourselves adequately skilled in the secret arts this Academy is duty-bound to instruct," he said. "You are no longer mere students of the ninja arts; you are full-fledged shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Though you are yet young in body, the _hitai-ate _you bear marks you as an adult in the eyes of the village and all who dwell within its walls.

"However," he continued, his tone taking on a slightly harsh quality (Naruto recognized it as that voice Iruka used whenever he was telling someone in a roundabout way not to let their success go to their heads), "in the ranks of the Konoha shinobi, each of you is still a novice. You are now Genin, junior-level ninja. The path of the shinobi only gets harder from here on out. What waits before you are the real challenges—not sporting squabbles between inexperienced cadets, but true experience in the real world beyond the walls of the Academy.

"One or two of you—" (Iruka's eyes met Naruto's for the briefest instant) "—may already have some idea of what awaits you out there. For those who do not, I say only this: the way of the shinobi... is all uphill from this point on. Your greatest challenges are yet to come, but I have faith that, if every one of you puts your all into walking this road, you will emerge from the dust of battle... each a splendid Konoha shinobi in your own way.

"I wish you all the best of fortune," Iruka finished. After a pause: "We will begin by dividing you into three-man cells. Each cell will be mentored by a Jonin, a senior ninja who will guide and coach you as you become familiar with you various assignments."

The class now looked apprehensive, in various ways: for example, the majority of the females gazed with fiery eyes at their mutual object of affection, the raven-haired boy who had arrived so late today. Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata tensed, and glanced at each other, each thinking the same thing.

"I have organized this class into teams," Iruka said, "in order to balance the strengths and weaknesses of each team member, so that the strength of each team would be approximately equal. All team assignments are final."

Iruka looked down at his clipboard, and announced the three members of the first squad.

**~V~**

Three girls sat at the desk behind Sasuke, who had assumed "The Position" and was listening as impassively as ever while Iruka called out names one after another. These three girls were, from left to right: Ino Yamanaka, Kyoko Juri, and Sakura Haruno. The desks were elevated stadium-seating-style, so the three had a fine view of the brooding hunk they were all making eyes at.

The blonde, Ino, grinned a spiteful grin at the pink-haired one—Sakura—and said, "Well, Forehead... _someone's _gonna be teamed up with Sasuke. I _wonder _who?"

Sakura responded with a dignified glance and a simple, "I don't know." On the inside, she was snarling: _CHA! There's no question, you pig! Sasuke will be teaming up with ME!_

At this point, Naruto twisted around in his seat and said, "If it happens to be the one girl in class who isn't all googly-eyed for your precious 'Sasuke-kun,' I am going to point. At you. And laugh. And laugh. And laugh."

All three girls turned eyes that promised death on the red-haired boy, who grinned his foxy grin and turned back 'round to face Iruka.

A few moments later:

"...Next, cell number seven," Iruka said. "Uchiha, Sasuke..."

—a sharp intake of breath from nearly every girl in class—

"...Uzumaki, Naruto..."

—a small smirk on Sasuke's face, invisible behind his folded hands—

"...and Hyuga, Hinata."

There was a collective, scandalized gasp from the classroom's female population, which was quickly overpowered by a sudden scuffle at a desk to the far right: a sharp _"Urk!" _from Sasuke and a "_Meep!" _from Hinata as both of their arms were lifted into the air by the red-haired boy between them, who held their arms aloft as though they'd won a tournament championship round.

"And the winner is..." Naruto declared, "_Hinata Hyuga! _Let's all give the lucky lady a round of applause, gentlemen! I'm sure she and this fine young stud will be making many babies together in the none-too-distant future."

Sasuke spluttered out a "HEY!" and Hinata's face very nearly turned the color of a red-delicious apple. The kunoichi of the class had gone slack-jawed with varying degrees of envy or dismay; the male population was beginning to snigger at their expense. Then Naruto dropped his teammates' hands, blinked a few times, and said:

"Oh yeah, before I forget!" He twisted around in his seat, and extended a single finger to point at the three furious girls behind him. "HA! HA! HA! See? This is me. Pointing. At you. And laughing. And laughing. And laughing. For you have all. Lost. The game. HA!"

Iruka had been stunned to silence by the outburst.

Sasuke groaned and closed his eyes, re-assuming "The Position" before his own amusement could become apparent; Hinata was mouthing the word "babies" over and over with a mortified look on her face. As Iruka called the class to order with a very miffed look on his face ("Sorry, Iruka-sensei... caught up in the moment... won't happen again!" Naruto was giggling apologetically), Hinata suddenly felt a peculiar sensation... as if half a dozen laser beams had been directed at the back of her head.

Looking over her shoulder, she saw Ino, Kyoko, Sakura, and a number of other girls whose names she could not recall, all glaring directly at _her._

_Their killing intent is almost... palpable..._ Hinata quailed. _Naruto-kun, you... you...!_

Hinata buried her face in her hands.

But...

She peeked out at the red-haired boy and their raven-haired companion. Naruto was still fighting a losing battle with a fit of silent laughter. From her sidelong angle, Hinata could see the small curve of a satisfied smirk behind Sasuke's intertwined fingers.

_The three of us! We're a team now!_

They would all, truly, begin the long walk down the path of the shinobi... together.

As one.

**~V~**

Kakashi Hatake surveyed the dilapidated apartment with a single lazy eye—the other, of course, was hidden beneath his cock-eyed _hitai-ate. _The lower half of his face was concealed behind a black mask, and a shock of silver hair stood out at an awkward angle above his forehead protector.

It was a quaint little abode—the paint on the walls showed signs of having peeled off in places, the kitchen was positively microscopic (relatively speaking), and Kakashi could see the edge of a sloppily-made bed through the open door of the apartment's single bedroom.

A man in a familiar white cloak sat waiting at the kitchen table. Kakashi meandered over to the man, taking in the various little details about the place that he cared about.

_It's not as disorganized as one might expect the home of a twelve-year-old to be,_ he noted. As he strolled into the kitchen, he took notice of the single clean plate that had been left out to dry in a tray next to the sink.

"So," Kakashi said, turning his lazy eye on Hiruzen Sarutobi, "this is Naruto's apartment, huh?"

"Yes, it is," replied the Third Hokage. "He's grown into a fine young ninja, despite his relative... lack of supervision. I think you'll like him."

Kakashi winced a bit, not missing the Third Lord's veiled jab at Kakashi's own negligence.

"One more thing," Sarutobi said. "The other boy in your cell... the Uchiha..."

"I'll take care of it," Kakashi said, with a lazy nod.

"Good," Sarutobi replied. "I have the utmost faith in your abilities, Kakashi."

"You do remember my track record with regards to passing the students assigned to me, right, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked flatly.

Sarutobi turned an amused eye on the masked Jonin.

"I'm aware," he said. "There's a reason I advised Iruka to assign this particular set of Genin to your cell, you see."

Chuckling to himself, Sarutobi stood up and shuffled his way to the front door of the apartment. When he had gone, Kakashi said: "Huh." Then he, too, departed, locking the door behind him.

Neither left so much as a trace of their presence in the boy's apartment.

**~V~**

**Author's Note:** It's a bit shorter than the last few chapters. Initially I wanted to end the chapter with the introduction scene, but it strikes me as a better fit for the start of the next one.

Next few chapters should be pretty lengthy by my standards, so the wait may be a bit longer. Thanks for your patience, and to all of you who've reviewed, favorited, or even added this story to your alert list... thanks for letting me know that you're reading! =D

...And yes, for those who caught it, that was a reference to _Geniuses of Hard Work_ by froznfox72. It's a pretty good fanfic, so check it out if you have time to burn.


	8. VIII: Kakashi Hatake

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is a _Shonen Jump _publication written by Masashi Kishimoto. I am neither _Shonen Jump_ nor Masashi Kishimoto. If that doesn't say it all, I pity you for your lack of perceptive prowess, and strongly advise that you _not _pursue the way of the ninja.

**~V~**

**- Chapter Eight -  
>"Kakashi Hatake"<strong>

**~V~**

—_ratatatatatatatatatatatatata—_

Sasuke had not deviated from "The Position" for a solid twenty minutes. The last time he'd so much as flinched, it had been when Iruka had left the classroom—

**~V~**

—_which was empty, save for the three Genin assigned to Team Seven and their scar-nosed homeroom instructor. Each and every other cell had been introduced to their respective Jonin mentors and had departed for gods-knew-where. As it stood now, an hour had passed since the alluring woman with those deep, red eyes had departed with her team. This last team to leave the classroom had consisted of Sakura Haruno, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame. Sakura had obviously been more impressed with her new sensei than her squadmates. _

_Literally nothing had happened since then. Iruka had remained at his desk, filling out some sort of paperwork that Sasuke didn't give a shit about. Naruto and Hinata had chattered away for a time, but conversation had dried up some time ago._

_Naruto now sat reading a book he'd checked out from the Academy library a week before: _A General Overview of Foreign Shinobi Tactics and How to Counter Them_. He claimed it to be a horrendously boring book. ("It's the writing style," he'd said. "Damn thing reads like a fucking zombie wrote it. You'd think a book about foreign ninjutsu would have to actually _try_ to bore the reader, but hot damn, does this book prove that stereotype wrong in so many ways...") When Hinata had asked him in turn why he was reading it, he'd replied that boring or not, it might be handy to know this stuff some day. ("The chapter on Suna's puppetmasters was particularly enlightening," Naruto added.)_

_There was a shuffling of paper and the sound of a drawer opening and closing. The three Genin of Team Seven, utterly and completely zoned out by this point, all looked up. Iruka was standing up, and looking at the clock._

"_So, uh, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto said from behind his book, "when is _our _super-uber-duper-elite-ninja-mentor-thing going to make an appearance?"_

_Iruka rubbed at the place where his nose became his forehead. "Probably not for another half an hour, knowing him."_

_Naruto cocked an eyebrow. Sasuke made an impatient twitching motion with his thumbs (the sole "flinch" mentioned above). Hinata looked from the clock to Iruka, and back again._

"_I-is our sensei usually so late to important meetings?" she asked._

"_Usually," Iruka said. It was that sort of long-suffering tone one uses when discussing an annoyance that has become such a part of one's lifestyle over time that you can't even be annoyed by it anymore._

"_Any... particular reason for that, Boss?" Naruto asked._

"_Probably had to save a tree from a cat," Iruka deadpanned._

"_Ah."_

"_Anyway, I have business to attend to," Iruka said. "You three just wait here until he shows up."_

_Naruto shrugged, and returned to his book._

**~V~**

The wait, Sasuke could deal with. That was no problem. The _problem_ was that not long after Iruka disappeared through the homeroom door, Naruto had grown tired of his book. He's slipped it back into his supply pack and had commenced with his most annoying impatient habit—

—_ratatatatatatatatatatatatata__—_

Sasuke's left eye twitched. Naruto, eyes on the clock, didn't notice. The red-haired boy continued to tap his pencil on the desk in front of him, as he had been doing for the better part of the past ten minutes.

"Um... Naruto-kun..." Hinata said, "...you're doing it again..."

"Hm?" Naruto snapped out of his boredom-induced trance. He looked down at the rapidly-tapping pencil in mild surprise. "Oh."

The tapping stopped.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata said timidly. "Maybe you should put the pencil away."

"I can't help it," Naruto whined. "I just need something to do with my hands..."

Now, boredom can have strange effects on the human brain. Hinata, for instance, had been sitting in silence for more than an hour now, and as teenage minds tend to, hers had drifted more than once to topics of a somewhat... unclean nature. The reason I say this now? Because Naruto's remark about "doing something with his hands" had an unintentional effect on Hinata.

The question of exactly what thoughts provoked her latest blush, however, shall be left to the imagination. More importantly, it was in the midst of this blush that the classroom door slid open.

Three pairs of eyes—one embarrassed, one annoyed, and the other stoic and cold—looked to the door as one. In stepped a shinobi: clad in a standard ninja uniform and vest, the lower half of his face was obscured by a black mask. One lazy right eye rolled to survey the three lone Genin from beneath a sideswept head of silver hair and crooked _hitai-ate _that covered the eye's counterpart.

"Ah, you three must be my squad, then," the man said. His voice was nearly as laid-back as his eye. "Sorry to have kept you waiting. You see, on the way here, I—"

"—had to save a tree from a cat?" Naruto supplied.

"Yeah, that!" the silver-haired ninja said. A pause. Then: "Wait..."

Sasuke looked the man up and down as he assumed an exaggerated "thinking" pose, appearing to deliberate what he had just agreed to. _He looks completely worthless,_ Sasuke thought. _Is this really a Jonin?_

"...All joking aside," the masked man said, "it's about time we get the ball rolling, isn't it? I want you all to meet me on the roof in five."

"By who's watch?" Naruto asked dryly.

The lazy-eyed shinobi chose to ignore this comment, instead turning and strolling right back out the door without another word.

The three newly-minted Genin looked at each other, their exasperation clearly evident.

"Well," Naruto said at length as they stood up to follow. "How shall I put this...? Based on my first impression..."

"...he's a complete idiot," Sasuke finished for him.

Hinata fidgeted with her fingers. "I hate to speak ill of a stranger, but..."

"Actually," Naruto said lightly, "I was going to say 'I like the guy.' But that works, too."

Sasuke and Hinata turned incredulous eyes on their red-haired comrade as he set off to follow their Jonin commander. Then they looked at each other.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted. "He _would_."

Hinata giggled.

**~V~**

The Academy rooftop stood high over the surrounding structures, with exception to the Hokage Tower just over the way. Beneath a series of archways on the western side of the roof, there stood a series of six small trees—if this particular patch of roof served any special purpose, Naruto was unaware of it.

Unsurprisingly, the three friends somehow arrived before their sensei. They had been waiting for several minutes, sitting next to each other on a pair of low steps leading up to the archway "grove," when their lazy-eyed sensei showed up (on time).

The man strolled onto the roof, and as he did, he slipped something into his supply satchel. Looked like a book. Naruto had the strangest feeling he'd seen the book somewhere before.

"Yo," the man said. Taking his sweet-ass time, he walked over the low railing at the edge of the rooftop and half-sat against it. "Before we do anything, I think we should get to know each other a little better. So I'd like you each to tell us all a little bit about yourselves."

"Sure thing, sensei," Naruto said. "Which specific 'little bit' are you looking for?"

"Oh, you know. Likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future. Stuff like that."

"U-um, sensei?" Hinata mumbled. Naruto winced a bit, but covered it quickly. They'd made progress on her shyness issues, but she was still a bit too meek with strangers...

"Hm?" Kakashi prompted.

"W-well, sensei, the three of us already know each other, so..."

"What she means is, 'you made us wait an hour and a half longer than anyone else, so you get to go first,'" Naruto said dryly. Hinata's smile at the interruption was a sheepish one.

"Oh, right. I suppose that's fair," the man said. "My name is Kakashi Hatake. I dislike... talking about my likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future..."

Kakashi stroked the chin of his mask, seeming to ponder the question.

"...never really thought about it. But anyway, I have lots of hobbies."

The three Genin waited for him to elaborate. When he did not, Naruto looked to each of his friends in turn.

"Well, _I _learned something today," he insisted with a shrug. The others just stared blankly back.

"You're up next, smartass," Kakashi said.

"Sure thing," Naruto replied. "Name's Naruto Uzumaki. I like ramen, spicy foods, dango, and girls with indigo hair." Hinata's face went a bit pink at this. "I especially like messing with my friends' heads. The looks on their faces can't be priced." Hinata's face went a bit pouty at this.

Kakashi watched this one-sided exchange in mild amusement.

"I hate... vegetables," Naruto said, crossing his arms with a sour look on his face. "But I eat 'em anyway."

_Huh..._ Kakashi thought.

"And my dream is..."

Naruto reached up and tapped his _hitai-ate_ lightly with a single finger.

"...to be a true shinobi, like those guys on the rocks over there—the kind of shinobi that I can take pride in, so I won't have to worry about what anyone else thinks of me."

Kakashi, Hinata, and Sasuke all glanced at the Hokage Monument.

_Well,_ thought Kakashi. _He's turned out interesting, hasn't he...?_

"Right, then," the lazy-eyed Jonin said. "Now, young lady, if you would..."

"Y-yes, sensei!" squeaked Hinata at the sudden attention. "My name is Hinata Hyuga. I like... uh..." a blush, then: "Zensai! Yes, z-zensai. And cinnamon rolls, and I don't really like seafood much. My hobby is pressing flowers."

Naruto turned a surprised eye on his friend. "You never told me you liked pressing flowers."

"I d-didn't?" Hinata stammered. "Oh, I guess I didn't. Anyway, my dream is..."

Kakashi half-expected the girl to blush again and mumble some substitute for "my dream is to be with the guy I have a crush on" (_hers and that of every other kunoichi under the age of eighteen,_ Kakashi mused), but her reaction surprised him... although once she voiced her dream, he realized it probably shouldn't have.

Hinata appeared to deflate ever so slightly as she considered her next words. Slowly, she continued:

"I guess... I just really want to make my own path in life, you know?"

What interested Kakashi most wasn't that he had yet another Cadet Branch kid on his hands who obviously rued her own fate—as far as he was concerned, that statement was right up there with "the sky is blue" and "oh look at how green the leaves are, this fine spring evening." What Kakashi found interesting was the reactions of the two boys to this girl's immediate left. Naruto was looking at Hinata with a sympathetic, thoughtful sort of look. Sasuke, who'd remained more or less a statue the entire time (Kakashi would one day also come to think of this as the "Sasuke Position"), frowned behind his hands.

_But this means... they know about the Hyuga Clan's curse seal? That's surprising... usually, it's too sore a topic for Cadet Branch kids to discuss with their peers..._

"Well, that was enlightening," Kakashi said. "Last, but not least..."

As one, the three who'd already spoken turned to regard the one who hadn't. Sasuke was silent for a time, then began:

"My name... is Sasuke Uchiha. There are a lot of things that I hate, but I don't see that it matters, since I don't particularly _like_ anything."

"Gee, thanks," Naruto mumbled.

"...and I don't have any hobbies, unless you count training as one of them."

"If it's work-related, it's not a hobby!" Naruto muttered.

"What I have is not a dream, because I _will _make it a reality. I plan to restore my clan, and there is someone I have sworn... to kill."

There was a tense silence following this pronouncement. A chill wind blew, as if to accentuate it—

"Well," Naruto said easily, "with the excess of skirts chasing after you, that 'restore my clan' bit shouldn't be too much trouble."

—and the tension was broken.

Kakashi watched in mixed amusement and apprehension as Sasuke turned to scowl at his red-haired friend, who just grinned a foxy grin and said, "Well, it's true!"

_As I suspected, _Kakashi thought, disregarding Naruto's antics.

"Right, then," Kakashi said, standing up. The three Genin turned their full attention on the Jonin. "Now that we all understand each other, we can begin formal training. You have the rest of the afternoon off, and are to meet me at practice field twenty-three tomorrow morning at seven o'clock sharp."

"By whose watch?" Naruto asked dryly.

When Kakashi chose to ignore the jab yet again, Hinata spoke up:

"Um, sensei?"

"Hm?"

"Could you tell us... what we'll be doing tomorrow? What our duties will be as we're starting out?"

"Tomorrow, you'll be undertaking your first real shinobi mission," Kakashi said cryptically.

The three were now paying him _rapt _attention. Hinata began to fidget with her fingers as Kakashi's dramatic pause dragged on.

"...W-what will the mission entail?"

"Survival exercises," Kakashi said bluntly.

Sasuke's brow furrowed, and Naruto said: "That's not a mission."

"On the contrary," Kakashi said, speaking seriously for the first time since they'd met him. "It _is _a mission."

"And how do 'survival exercises' qualify as a mission?" Naruto asked. "We've already covered all of that at the Academy."

"This won't be your typical practice exercise," Kakashi said. "You'll have to survive... against me."

"Oh," Naruto said. "Like a test of our ability, so you know what are strengths and weaknesses are?"

"There is... that, too," Kakashi said, again with the cryptic pause.

Hinata fidgeted with her fingers once again. For some reason, she had a bad feeling about where this was going. "Y-you mean, there's another reason, Kakashi-sensei...?"

At this, Kakashi began to laugh. Hinata's fidgeting increased, and Naruto clicked his tongue impatiently in his mouth. Finally, Naruto said: "Did something about that question amuse you, sensei?"

"Hm... it's nothing," Kakashi said. "It's just that if I tell you, you'll probably chicken out."

"Damn it, man. Stop taunting us and get to the point," said Naruto.

"Very well," sighed Kakashi dramatically. Then his expression became stern.

"This is the truth," he began. "Of the twenty-seven members of your graduating class, only nine will actually be accepted as Genin. The other eighteen will be _weeded out _and sent back to the Academy for more training. The test we are about to perform has a sixty-six-percent rate of failure."

Hinata's fidgeting sped up still more. Sasuke's intertwined fingers tightened their grip on each other ever-so-slightly. Naruto quirked his head to one side, a shrewd look on his face.

"So the... ah... 'Graduation Exam' we took two days ago was more of a 'Pre-Graduation Exam'?"

Kakashi smiled. "Why, yes, that's a good way to put it. That exam exists only to eliminate the hopeless cases. Those who remain are the ones who show true potential. Tomorrow's test is the real deal. If you come up short, you _might_ get a chance to kiss that shiny, new headband of yours goodbye before you're forced to return it to Iruka and take the whole year over again."

"Huh."

_His only reaction is "huh," huh?_ Kakashi thought. Behind the red-haired boy, Sasuke was doing a very poor job of hiding his apprehension, and Hinata looked like one solid push would provoke a panic attack.

"In any event," Kakashi said, "we'll meet up at the training field tomorrow so that I can evaluate your strengths and weaknesses. Bring all of your ninja tools and equipment. And one more thing: don't have breakfast beforehand... unless you enjoy throwing up."

And with that, Kakashi turned and strolled lazily back down the stairs, leaving the three friends to their nerves.

Naruto watched him depart.

"N-Naruto-kun..."

Naruto turned to regard the girl with a reassuring smile. "Ah, don't sweat it. It can't be that bad, or no one would _ever _pass."

Hinata visibly calmed at this. "Y-yeah," she said. "Yeah, you're right, Naruto-kun."

"So," Naruto said as he heaved himself to his feet and stretched his arms out behind his back. "Who's hungry? I'm in the mood for seafood. How 'bout you, Hina-chan?"

"Um..."

"I'm kidding. Actually, I was thinking barbecue."

Hinata let out a relieved laugh. "Oh, okay. That sounds good."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, standing up. "Sounds alright."

"And let's all meet up for breakfast before this test of his," Naruto added as they set off toward the stairs.

"W-what?" stammered Hinata. "But Kakashi-sensei said—"

"—ah, fuck it, it's probably one of those 'see through deception' things," Naruto said, waving a dismissive hand in the direction of nothing in particular. "'Sides, better to risk getting a little vomit on one's shirt than to turn up all wobbly-kneed from lack of food. No telling how long this survival thing's going to take, so I'd rather err on the side of nausea."

"He has a point," Sasuke admitted.

"I-if you say so, Naruto-kun..." Hinata said, sounding unconvinced.

"Leaf Cafeteria, tomorrow morning at six," declared Naruto with an air of finality. "And if you don't eat at least two helpings, then so help me, the next time you pass out you will wake up in your underwear, hanging upside-down from the First Hokage's left nostril."

Hinata stopped where she stood, cheeks a deep pink, lips opening and closing like those of a beached trout.

Several moments passed. "N... Naruto-_kuuuuuuun..._" she whined, jogging to catch up.

**~V~**

**Author's Note:** Did I say the introduction scene would be the _start_ of the next chapter? Really? Silly me. Well, in any case, it turned out to be _the entire chapter._ That's how the writing process works, don't'chaknow... you put finger to keyboard and the next thing you know, the story's gotten away from you and you're choking on its dust...

Anyway, I didn't mean this chapter to be as short as it turned out, but if I went any further at this point, this chapter would wind up being a bit too long for my tastes. Next chapter's the infamous bell test... is Team Seven up to the challenge? We'll see...


	9. IX: Two Bells, One Book

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is a _Shonen Jump _publication written by Masashi Kishimoto. I am neither _Shonen Jump_ nor Masashi Kishimoto. If that doesn't say it all, I pity you for your lack of perceptive prowess, and strongly advise that you _not _pursue the way of the ninja.

**~V~**

**- Chapter Nine -  
>"Two Bells, One Book"<strong>

**~V~**

Hinata slept more soundly than she'd expected to that night. It was as though all of her previous worries about the morning's upcoming test had been dispelled. And it wasn't exactly a mystery how: Naruto hadn't given either Hinata nor Sasuke so much as an inch of legroom to obsess over the test. The night had been spent eating, talking, and laughing. Sasuke had mostly just eaten, but Hinata had known the Uchiha prodigy long enough to tell that he'd enjoyed the atmosphere.

There was something about Naruto that made it nearly impossible for Hinata's anxiety to take hold while she was around him. It was as though the boy radiated and aura of contagious self-confidence. Even when the conversation _had _shifted to Kakashi's final exam, this sense that failure wasn't even in the cards had persisted. They _would_ pass this test and they would pass it so hard and so fast that the test would get whiplash trying to keep up with how hard and fast they'd passed it. Or so Naruto had said. Sasuke and Hinata were fine with just passing it at all, thank you very much.

Even so, Hinata couldn't help but be nervous when her alarm clock woke her up on the morning of the test. Rolling out of bed, she sleepily reached over to her bedside table. Her hands found her Leaf headband, and she clutched the forehead protector to her chest like a talisman. She thought of everything she had done to get this far, of everything that Naruto had taught her, and she willed the anxiety to the back of her mind.

When she donned her _hitai-ate_, she was looking into the full-body mirror across from her bed with a smile. Then her smile faded into something more serene as her eyes slid down her own fully-clothed reflection, which at the moment, lacked her customary hooded jacket.

For some odd reason, she felt good about that, as well. Nevertheless, force of habit had her clad in a beige jacket when she slid the door of her room closed, and left the Cadet Branch's wing of the Hyuga Compound. Hinata had always been a modest girl, she was just less self-conscious about it now.

Her grandfather would still be sleeping at this hour, but several attendants were shuffling about their morning tasks as Hinata made her way toward the central courtyard garden. Each wore either a headband or a snug wrap of bandages around their forehead. Hinata's smile fell as passed Ibuki Hyuga, but she snatched it back up and pushed the thoughts of her clan's claustrophobic restrictions to the same corner of her mind that housed her forgotten anxiety.

Hinata had never wanted to be a ninja in the first place, you see, but for a member of the Hyuga Clan's Cadet Branch, there were but two viable paths in life: one either lived their life within the walls of the Hyuga Clan Compound as a servant and guardian, or one enlisted as a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village. Most chose this second path. The larger of two cages was still a bit roomier than its counterpart, after all. Hinata had halfheartedly chosen to enroll at the Academy in spite of her grandfather's insistence that she lacked the necessary talent—or, perhaps, because of it—but for the better part of her Academy "career," she had done nothing but prove her grandfather right. This had continued until the day when Naruto had reach out to her. Even then, the struggle to change herself had felt like a hopeless one at first.

But she _had _changed in the end, hadn't she? Neji's proclamation that she was fool to think she could alter what fate had chosen for her, it had rung hollow after—

Hinata gave a start as the object of her thoughts came into view. Her cousin, Neji Hyuga, sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, his straight back almost but not quite up against the side of a tree. His long, brown hair was slung over his right shoulder at that moment, and as always he was clad in the traditional Hyuga robes. His forehead lay bare, marking his status as a member of the clan's main household.

Hinata felt like slapping herself for forgetting their sainted heir's morning meditation—of _course_ he'd be out here now. Had she remembered, she'd have bypassed the gardens entirely.

Her steps sped up even as she made each one just a little bit lighter, in the hopes that he would overlook her presence. There previous disagreement was long behind them, but even so, Hinata wanted to keep as much distance between her and her cousin as possible. Apparently it was not to happen this day, however, as Neji's eyes snapped open before she had taken more than five paces.

His gaze was chill and condescending as his eyes fell on Hinata, who froze at the look.

Reflexively, Hinata turned toward her cousin. "Good morning, Neji-sama," she said with a bow of her head.

She pushed back another wave of anxiety as she felt his eyes slide upward, and she realized he was staring at her forehead protector. She endured his gaze for a long moment before he said, "Where are you off to?" It sounded more like a command than a question.

"I am to meet my Jonin commander at the practice field by seven o' clock, Neji-sama," Hinata answered dutifully. "I have agreed to meet my teammates for breakfast before training. Is there something I may do for you, my cousin?"

Neji gazed back steadily, then said: "Your teammates. Who are they?"

_I don't see why it's any of your business, cousin, _Hinata thought, but without allowing the sentiment to show, she answered: "They are Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, Neji-sama."

"The Uzumaki boy again," Neji said, just a little bit scathingly. "Take care that you don't grow too attached to him, Hinata."

Something flickered in Hinata's eyes before she could catch it and hide it. Neji, taking note of this, closed his eyes again.

"You may go," he said. His face was impassive as a statue's... but Hinata, as she turned to continue her walk to the Leaf Cafeteria, could almost have sworn she'd detected a hint of satisfaction in his voice. Was she imagining it? For some reason, she hoped she was.

**~V~**

It was ten fifty-six, going on eleven o'clock. It had been three hours—_three hours—_since the Team Seven Genin had arrived at their designated training ground: a wide open flatland surrounded by dense forest and a small lake. Three thick, man-high punching posts stood in a neat line off to the side of the training field, across from which stood a flagpole and a sizable memorial stone bearing the names of ninja who had fallen in the line of duty. The three had regarded the stone with puzzled curiosity when they'd arrived; none could quite fathom the logic behind placing such a memorial on a practice field. They could only surmise that the monument predated the training field itself.

Naruto had long since put away his book, and now lay reclining on the grass with his arms behind his head. Sasuke stood with his hands in his pockets, and Hinata sat next to Naruto. Each either had a hefty supply backpack on the ground next to them, or in the case of Hinata, wore it on her back (reclining against it as she sat). All three were once more zoned right on out of the cosmos: dead to the world in all but the literal sense.

And then came Kakashi, strolling on up as if nothing happened. When Hinata stood up, saying, "Guys, he's here!" Naruto had simply turned his head to look at the incoming teacher without comment. Sasuke was just being Sasuke: acting all cool and stoic, as per the usual.

"By your watch, then," Naruto stated as the man strode into earshot.

"Sorry I'm late, guys," Kakashi said unabashedly. "A black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way."

"Taking a detour through the Land of Ogres for good measure, I take it?" Naruto quipped. With a motion like a full-body whip-crack, the red-haired Genin flung himself straight into a standing position.

"I may have taken a wrong turn or two," admitted Kakashi.

"Or three. Or four. Or five... hundred," Naruto said flatly. "Admit it, sensei, you rolled right over in bed and went back to sleep, didn't you?"

"Here's how we're going to do this," Kakashi said, verbally sidestepping the accusation. He walked over to the nearby punching posts and set down his supply bag. From it, he extracted a large, ungainly alarm clock.

"I've set this to ring at noon," he said, placing the clock on the middle post. He flicked the switch on the back, setting the massive bells on its sides to jangle at the appointed time. "You have until then to complete your assignment, which is..."

He put a hand into his supply satchel and rummaged a bit. The three Genin heard a faint jingle as he extracted—

"...to take these bells from me," Kakashi finished, holding out two ordinary, tiny, round cat-bells from strings in his hand. "You need only one bell apiece—"

"There are three of us, sensei," Naruto pointed out before Hinata could stutter out a question to the same effect.

"Oh! You can count. That's a helpful skill for a ninja to have," Kakashi congratulated. "Yes, there are three of you. And two bells. You only need one bell... apiece."

"Again, sensei," Naruto deadpanned, "there are three of us. _Why only two bells?_"

Kakashi continued as if Naruto had not said a word: "If any one of you fails, that one will go without lunch." He pointed to the punching posts. "Instead, you will be tied to one of those posts, and you will watch while I eat _my _lunch in front of you."

"Oh," Naruto said. "Well, then." He grinned at Hinata. "Is that my cue to say, 'I told you so?'"

Kakashi blinked as Hinata fidgeted with her fingers, the look on her face a mix of sheepish and relieved. Sasuke had smirked, then returned to his usual stoic self.

_Not exactly the 'Oh, THAT'S why he told us not to eat breakfast!' response I usually get,_ Kakashi thought.

"Since there are only two bells, one of you is definitely headed for the post," Kakashi said seriously. "And whoever that person is will be the first to fail. At least one of you—" he looked to each student in turn, watching their reactions as the realization set in, "—is headed back to school... and disgrace."

These reactions weren't the ones he usually got, either. Hinata's was the most dramatic of the bunch: she let out a sharp gasp, and looked to both of her friends. She appeared as though she'd been sucker-punched in the gut. Sasuke's expression simply got darker than it had already been. Naruto opened his mouth, closed it again, scrunched up his eyebrows, and said:

"...Why the fuck would you bother putting us in teams like this, and then go and pull a stunt like that?"

"Beg pardon?" Kakashi said lightly. "A stunt like what?"

"Playing us against each other, setting up this kind of 'every man for himself' kind of test?" Naruto was losing his composure for the first time since Kakashi had met him: he looked to be fighting the urge to yell in Kakashi's face. "If you want to test our individual skills, you can do that one by one, can't you?"

_Sharp as a tack, this one._

"I... could," Kakashi said airily. "But _this_ is the way I do things." His eyes narrowed slightly. "This is the way I do things," he said again, "and my word is law. Remember that."

"Well, fuck _that_ noise," he heard Naruto mutter as the three Genin made their way to the punching posts to discard their backpacks... except Hinata, who kept hers on her back.

_Never known a Hyuga to go so heavy on ninja gear before... _Kakashi thought. _A clan maverick, perhaps?_

The three moved to stand a good distance down the training field from their sensei, fifteen feet or more. They started muttering to each other in hushed, hurried tones as they went about this. Kakashi watched this exchange in mild wonderment, wishing he were close enough to hear what they were saying. Hinata's look of distress changed to an affronted expression, and she stole a glance back at Kakashi. Sasuke said something with a quizzical look on his face, but Naruto waved him off.

"The clock _is _still ticking," Kakashi reminded them in a loud voice. The three turned strained, determined faces on their sensei. Kakashi held up the bells one more time. "When I say 'start,' the exercise shall commence. You may use any and all ninja arts or tools in your possession, including shuriken and Gentle Fist attacks. If you don't come at me with the intent to kill, you'll never be able to take the bells." He tossed the bells up into the air, deftly catching them and, in the same motion, fastening the strings to the left side of his belt.

"And... _start._"

At the signal, the three Genin zipped off in separate directions, taking refuge in the surrounding woodlands.

**~V~**

Well, they _started out_ in separate directions, but that is what those in the business would call "bullshitting the enemy."

This, Naruto had insisted on as they muttered amongst themselves just prior to the starting signal:

"...Alright, guys, here's the game plan," Naruto said. "He's expecting us to break off and make individual grabs for the bells, yeah? So when he says go, we all split up and go every which way. Hinata!"

"Y-yes, Naruto-kun?"

"Use your Byakugan to track the two of us down. Find whichever one of us is closer to you, and then lead him to the other. We'll regroup in the forest and figure out a plan of attack then."

Hinata stole a glance at Kakashi, her troubled expression hardening into something more like an insulted one.

"So you're saying we all work to get the bells together?" Sasuke muttered. "But then, which of us will actually _get _the bells? One of us is down for a failing grade no matter what..."

Hinata opened her mouth just a little, hesitantly—and as a matter of fact, she was about to offer to give up her claim on a bell to the others—but she never got past the first word of the offer. Naruto had waved Sasuke off with a hand and a look of irritation.

"No time for that now. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

Kakashi called over to them: "The clock _is _still ticking," he warned. The three Genin turned as one to regard him, their faces set. For several long moments the two parties—one elite ninja and three determined trainees—stood on the practice field, staring each other down, as if the encounter were a scene in some cheesy cowboy flick...

"And... _start!_"

Off they went, in three separate directions. And as instructed, Hinata activated her Byakugan and surveyed the area.

**~V~**

"The basis of all shinobi arts is to become invisible... eradicate yourself..." Kakashi murmured, rubbing the back of his neck. He looked around at the now-deserted practice field. There was not a trace of his three students to be seen.

Sighing, he said, "Well, they have the 'hiding' part down well enough..."

If he'd wanted, he could have tracked them down easily enough—chakra-charged his sense of smell and picked them off one by one—but that would be counterproductive. Time was against them, and if things ran true to form, his would-be hunters would make their own clumsy plays on him soon enough. Deciding to kick back and wait for his opponents to make the first move, the masked Jonin slipped a lazy hand into his supply pack and extracted his copy of _Icha Icha Paradise_, opening to the dog-eared page and picking up where he'd left off.

**~V~**

Sasuke Uchiha lay prostrate in the foliage, peeking out at Kakashi Hatake from the older man's blind side. The masked Jonin had turned several pages in that bright orange book of his by the time the barely-perceptible sound of stalking ninja met Sasuke's ears. Turning a wary eye in the direction of the disturbance, Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief as Naruto and Hinata slid into view, each slinking into position on either side of him.

The three lay flat, looking out on their objective.

"Well," Naruto said, "we've agreed that we'll be putting our heads together on this one. The real question is: what the hell are we gonna do _now?_"

"Is he off-guard, or... just pretending?" Hinata asked.

"Who can say?" Sasuke murmured. "He looks and acts like a total joke, but it could be just that: an act. And it doesn't look like he's going to be making a move until we make ours." The Uchiha bit his thumbnail, silent for a moment, before he spoke up again. "Naruto, you're the only one of us who's fought an experienced ninja before. Do you have any ideas at all on how we should do this?"

Naruto clicked his tongue. "That was a completely different story," he said. "For one thing, I had advance warning, an idea of what I was up against, and the element of surprise on my side. I had plenty of time to set him up and knock him down." He turned shrewd eyes on his companions: "_We_ have less than one hour to outwit a ninja who is both higher in rank than Mizuki, and a complete unknown."

Naruto turned back toward Kakashi, who was shaking slightly with what looked to be the giggles. Giggles?

Naruto stared for several long moments.

"Lemme think," he said, and lapsed into silence.

Sasuke and Hinata waited. After about a minute and a half, Naruto spoke up again:

"Hey, Hina-chan? What's that book he's reading?"

"Let me see..." she whispered. Her Byakugan's nearly-invisible pupils shifted focus, and... "O-oh..." she squeaked. "Oh... my."

"Well?" Sasuke grunted.

"I-it's... um..."

She fidgeted uncomfortably.

"It's, um, _what?_" said Naruto.

"U-um... please don't make me say it," Hinata squeaked. The two boys both turned to look at her with raised eyebrows, and found she was blushing.

"Hina-chan," muttered Naruto softly. "It's important."

"U-um... it's..."

But the rest was an unintelligible mumble.

"Come again?" Naruto said.

"Th-that wasn't funny, Naruto-kun!" Hinata snapped, her cheeks reddening all the more.

"What wasn't funny? Just tell me the damn title already, I couldn't hear you."

"Oh," Hinata said. "O-oh, right. It's... er... it's..." She gulped, then muttered: "_Icha... Icha... P-Paradise..._"

Naruto blinked. Sasuke turned his eyes back to their sensei, whose giggles had subsided, with his lip curled in distaste.

"Hn... the man has absolutely no shame..."

"Alright, then, Hina-chan," Naruto said cautiously. "I'm going to need you to do something for me that you're probably going to feel uncomfortable with. Bear with me, alright? If my idea is going to work, this is essential."

"U-um... okay... what do you... want me to do?"

"Can you focus your Byakugan enough to read whatever page he's on?"

"W-wh—" Hinata began to protest, but Sasuke's hand clamped over her mouth.

"Trust me, Hina-chan!" Naruto said, raising a hand to placate the girl. "I need you to read out... whatever it is that's on the page he's reading. Look, if I tell you what I have in mind, will you help me out with this?"

Hinata fidgeted once more, then stilled herself and nodded.

"That's my girl!" Naruto said. "Right, then. Here's how it's gonna go down..."

**~V~**

To say that Hinata was embarrassed would have been the understatement of the decade.

In fact, you could say that during Kakashi's bell-test, the young Hyuga girl reached a plateau of mortification that even she had never imagined possible before, and which she would never again even come close to for the remainder of her days. Fortunately, the urgency of the situation—a pinch of determination and a teaspoon of adrenaline, one could say—helped just enough in her efforts to keep that infernal whiteness at bay. For a full thirty seconds, the girl lay flat on her belly, face in her hands, with only one thought on her mind:

_Don't faint don't faint I must not faint GET IT TOGETHER HINATA DO NOT FAINT._

Gods above, her cheeks had never felt so hot! In those moments, she felt like she would never be able to look Naruto square in the eye again.

But could you blame her? She had just read an extremely graphic passage from a smutty novel. A passage of highly kinky sex between two women and one man. Out loud. To her _crush. _(To. Her. CRUSH.)

_Don't faint... don't faint... don't faint—_

"Don't faint, please," Naruto said. "We kind of need you conscious for this plan to work, you know."

"Y-yeah..." squeaked Hinata. The shroud of whiteness subsided. Oh, gods, that was too close. Too... close...

"Alright, now," Naruto said. "I need to get in close to kick things off. Sasuke, when I go for his arm and leg—"

"Right," Sasuke said.

"And Hinata, you keep hidden and keep those Hyuga eyes peeled until it's time for our little shuriken trick."

"Yes," Hinata said (relieved to find she'd gotten rid of her stutter).

"Alright, then, I'm off!"

And Naruto was off.

**~V~**

Kakashi turned another page. He was two paragraphs in when a pair of shuriken flew from the brush at his blind side. Although his left eye was covered, he could hear the shuriken well enough to do something about it, so with one swing of his arm he caught them perfectly. His fingers slipped right on through the holes in the middle, and their deadly spin wound down harmlessly in his hand as he finished the paragraph and then looked up.

"So your blind spot isn't a blind spot?" Naruto said casually as he stepped out of the brush. "I guess you wouldn't have lasted long in the ninja world without adapting to that kind of handicap, would you?"

"Nope," Kakashi said, rolling an eye to look up from his book. "Wouldn't have lasted long if I'd walked out of hiding to _converse with the enemy_, either."

"I'm not here to 'converse,'" Naruto said, cracking his knuckles.

"A head-on assault is wasted here," Kakashi sighed, and turned back to his book.

"Won't know that 'til I try, will I?"

_Maybe he's not as sharp as I thought?_ Kakashi mused.

Naruto sprinted straight at Kakashi and threw a punch, which Kakashi caught easily, without looking up from his book. Naruto then launched several punches and kicks in rapid succession, all of which were blocked with no apparent effort at all.

A sweeping kick: Kakashi hopped it, without looking up from his book.

A knee to the gut: Kakashi's caught it with his own, without looking up from his book.

A backflipping donkey-kick: Kakashi twisted smoothly out of the way, without looking up from his book.

"Well," Naruto said, panting a bit as he hopped back to his feet. "I guess I've got a long way to go with the whole 'taijutsu' thing, huh? So, sensei, out of vain curiosity—you reading that book right now to taunt us, or do you just really love your smut?"

"Why, yes," Kakashi replied, turning a page.

"...I see what you did there," Naruto said, and then launched into motion.

Kakashi's eye snapped up from the book—_He's moving faster than before!_ Suddenly, the red-haired boy spun around, swinging a sidelong fist at Kakashi's head even as he sent a light, low kick toward the Jonin's shins—from the righthand side... which happened to be the hand that presently held a certain little, orange book.

Kakashi caught the kick with one of his own as his left arm shot across to block the swinging punch... which twisted around halfway through and caught his arm. Naruto's left leg hooked itself behind Kakashi's, and for a brief moment the two ninja both stood on one foot each.

Before this exchange had even gotten to the point where either could react to the other's counter, six shuriken flew from the trees—two aimed at the space behind Kakashi, two aimed at his present position, and two aimed... at Naruto!

_Wha—?_

Kakashi registered his situation in an instant: Naruto had caught his arm and hindered his footing, and one of the other two kids, almost before Naruto had made the move at all, had aimed shuriken for the places directly behind and before Kakashi, as well as at the Jonin himself.

If Kakashi had been unencumbered, he could have either blocked or escaped in virtually direction, but without free movement and with both his hands occupied—well, he _could_ have dropped the book, but that would have damaged it—Kakashi made the only choice that was a sure thing at the moment.

A burst of chakra through that one grounded foot, and he was up in the air like a rocket.

What Kakashi expected to happen was for Naruto, still clutching the Jonin's arm, to be thrown off-balance... but in the instant before Kakashi had leapt upward, Naruto had released both limbs and—

Deftly, between three fingers, Naruto snapped up from the air the two shuriken that Sasuke had sent his way—as planned—and with the briefest pause to consider the Jonin's speed of ascent, Naruto threw both stars directly upward.

_Urk—_

Putting these moves in context after the fact, Kakashi would understand the brilliance behind them: Naruto had pulled his punches, feigned signs of minor exertion, and lulled Kakashi into such a sense of security that he hadn't seen fit to even put his book away. And then Naruto, with at least twice the speed and power he'd displayed seconds before, had surprised Kakashi into allowing his arm and leg to be occupied. The shuriken, thrown by Sasuke, had been timed _simultaneously_ with this attack, meaning the Uchiha had been _expecting _it, meaning it had been pre-meditated and agreed on beforehand by both of them.

The shuriken aimed at Naruto were intended to be _thrown _by Naruto. He had even accurately anticipated the direction of Kakashi's dodge.

At the time, though, Kakashi could only react: a violent twist of his body, and with his free hand, he caught one of the two shuriken before it could collide with his midsection. The other, aimed at the bells themselves, flew harmlessly into the sky as his waist twisted out of the way. In the same motion, Kakashi stashed _Icha Icha Paradise _away in his satchel.

As Kakashi descended, however, Sasuke Uchiha emerged from hiding, springing to the top of a nearby tree. The boy's hands flicked through a series of signs—

_That technique is—it's beyond the capacity of any novice! His chakra shouldn't have developed enough to—_

Sasuke sucked in a deep breath, held two fingers to his mouth, and blew hard through the gap between them:

_**Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!**_

A blazing inferno erupted from Sasuke's mouth and engulfed the masked Jonin before he could land.

**~V~**

**Author's Note:** Dun-dun... DUUUUUUUN! Spoiler alert: Kakashi is perfectly fine. More importantly, why would Naruto make Hinata read smut to him with her Byakugan? Just where is this plan going? Will they get the bells? And when is Hinata going to make her move?

Cliffhangers. Gotta love 'em. (By the way, Fox Sannin, UPDATE YOUR FRICKEN' STORY ALREADY. =3 )


	10. X: When a Plan Comes Together

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is a _Shonen Jump _publication written by Masashi Kishimoto. I am neither _Shonen Jump_ nor Masashi Kishimoto. If that doesn't say it all, I pity you for your lack of perceptive prowess, and strongly advise that you _not _pursue the way of the ninja.

**~V~**

**- Chapter Ten -  
>"When a Plan Comes Together"<strong>

**~V~**

Hinata could see clearly through the blaze, however, and as Naruto had predicted, Kakashi escaped by way of Substitution—the only effective way to dodge such a widespread attack while in midair. She saw him make the switch and even managed to track his escape to a nearby tree, thankfully on the side of the practice field opposite her own position.

She could have let the others know where he was... but Naruto had insisted that she remain in hiding until the final phase kicked in. Her part would be small, he'd told her, but vital. Perhaps not the sort of glorious in-the-spotlight, action-packed combat role most young ninja envisioned when they were still greenhorns fresh from the Academy, but Hinata was not "most young ninja." She knew she wasn't as good at taijutsu or ninjutsu as the other two, and she only knew how to execute the most basic of low-level genjutsu techniques.

This was one thing Naruto had taught her during their lessons, however: not all ninja had to be powerhouse blackbelt champions. In fact, he'd told her, in the shinobi world it was often the more subtle, roundabout ninja who played the most vital roles in completing missions. The heavy-handed approach was necessary, too, but wouldn't be possible without the "softer" arts holding it up and helping it along from the shadows.

Hinata wasn't actually supposed to help the two boys out at this stage—she was supposed to follow at a moderate distance, keeping Naruto's Substitution log close at hand while she did. But as she looked on, she saw Kakashi execute a Jutsu that nearly sent her into a panic—it might completely topple their whole plan!

It was essential that she remain in hiding, but she also had to warn Naruto and Sasuke, or the plan wouldn't go any further than it already had. Making her decision in a heartbeat, Hinata's hands formed the signs for the Art of the Doppelganger, and she created a single illusory copy of herself. It set off, moving silently across the branches—making its way around the field to a tree on the other side, so it wouldn't broadcast the direction of her hiding place.

Hinata's true role in this fight would begin when Kakashi dodged the _second_ Fireball.

**~V~**

_Well,_ Naruto thought, _either Kakashi has transformed into a charred lump of spent firewood, or he did exactly what we expected him to._

Naruto looked left, right, and up; behind him, Sasuke came to a landing and did the same, searching in the other direction.

This was the sole blind spot in the entire plan: the gap between the Substitution escape and Kakashi's return to the battlefield. It was a blind spot left in the plan on purpose. If the second phase of Naruto's scheme were to work, the Jonin would need to be fooled into thinking they'd only thought so far ahead as the first Fireball Jutsu. It would also be a helpful bonus if Kakashi believed the two boys to have forged an alliance apart from Hinata, although Naruto knew it was probably hoping for a little too much from a ninja with so much more experience than him. There were a few conditions that would need to be met before the second phase could begin, but Naruto had stressed that this was the part where the three would need to adapt on the fly if necessary.

"That... wasn't bad."

Kakashi stepped out from hiding—and the two boys could clearly see the dirt shift under his footsteps, meaning it wasn't a Doppelganger. Naruto couldn't believe their luck—he'd been expecting a surprise attack.

"That wasn't bad at all," Kakashi said. "Quite well thought-out. But you'll need to do better than that if you want to take these bells."

"What was that you were saying about stepping out of hiding to converse with the enemy?" Naruto responded dryly. Kakashi chuckled in response.

"Well, _I'm_ not the one who has to get the drop on the other team," Kakashi said. "Although after that display, I guess I can forget about finishing chapter twelve before lunch. Such is life..."

Naruto glanced at the clock. Good: they still had a healthy dose of time left.

"N-Naruto-kun!"

Naruto's head snapped to the side, where he saw Hinata crouched on a low branch above. He hadn't heard her approach at all.

"That's not his real body!" Hinata said frantically. "He's still sneaking around in the trees to the East! That clone is—"

Kakashi had snapped off a single shuriken with such deadly accuracy that it flew straight through "Hinata's" forehead. The ordinary, smoke-and-mirrors Doppelganger she had sent with her warning was extinguished in a small poof of smoke before she could complete it.

"Tch," Naruto said, as the two boys tensed. "Never heard of a solid clone before... but there it is, I guess."

"Hm. So _she's_ working with you, too," Kakashi's Shadow Clone said. "That's interesting. Have the three of you settled the matter of who's going to stab who in the back when you get the bells?"

"Oh, stuff it up your dried-up old dirt road," Naruto said. "Sasuke! Go after the real one!"

"Right." And Sasuke was off. Kakashi moved to intercept, but Naruto moved first.

"Ah-ah, you're playing with me," Naruto said, twirling his kunai around one finger. "I hope for your sake that the 'real' you knows Sasuke's coming, because if he doesn't... well, let's just say that my friend over there is almost good enough for all three of us."

"Hm," said the Shadow Clone. "We'll see..."

**~V~**

Sasuke moved from tree to tree, hiding behind each in turn and peeking 'round for the real Kakashi. He gave a small start when a nearby bush rustled.

"S-Sasuke-kun!" whispered Hinata, peeking out. The veins of her Byakugan were fully active. "He's circling around to Naruto-kun in the tr—"

Hinata broke off and scrambled backward out of the bush, narrowly escaping a hard, somersaulting axe-kick from Sasuke. She stumbled backwards into a small clearing just behind her.

"S-Sasuke-kun!" whispered Hinata. "What are you—!"

"You can cut the act, _sensei,_" Sasuke said. He hopped over the brush and kicked off of the tree next to it, springing toward "Hinata." A flick of Sasuke's wrist sent a shuriken spinning through the air, its speed enhanced by Sasuke's own—"

Her timid eyes glinting with a sudden fierceness, "Hinata" twisted to the side, narrowly avoiding a throwing star to the face. And then, the transformation was released, and Kakashi stood at the ready, his formerly lazy eye now a stern one.

"Well done, Sasuke," he congratulated. "So, what gave me away?"

"You want me to tell you, so you don't make the same mistake twice?" Sasuke smirked. "Not happening, sorry."

Kakashi grinned beneath his mask. And then Sasuke was in motion, and he found out exactly what Naruto had meant when he'd said the Uchiha was almost good enough for all three of them.

**~V~**

Naruto was putting on a good game-face, but the fact of the matter was that the plan couldn't go ahead until Naruto regrouped with Sasuke, and it certainly wouldn't work with this flesh-and-blood "super-doppelganger" thing around to mess it up. _How shall I do this...?_

Kakashi's Shadow Clone stood there calmly, waiting for Naruto to make the first move. It looked almost bored, but Naruto wasn't gullible enough to believe it or hotheaded enough to let it get to him. Instead, Naruto kept twirling the kunai in one hand. With the other, he reached into his supply pack.

Kakashi moved too fast for Naruto to track, but when you create a deliberate opening for your enemy, it's easy to guess where they'll strike. Naruto twirled to the right, catching his kunai by the handle and sending a reverse-grip stab at the place he'd rightly anticipated the Shadow Clone would appear.

He only narrowly managed to slip out of position before the clone could take hold of his left wrist from behind, but the clone easily caught his right before Naruto could stab him with it. The red-haired boy answered with a knee toward Kakashi's gut—

And then Kakashi's clone was flipping Naruto right on over its shoulders judo-style.

All of the wind _exploded _from his lungs as he impacted the ground with more force than Sasuke had ever managed to slam him down with in any of their sparring matches, but he'd gotten what he wanted just the same. He hadn't expected an opening quite so fortunate, but...

Before Naruto had even cleared his head of the pain, a massive burst of heat erupted in the air above him. Naruto's custom-made incendiary seal, which he had stuck on the back of the clone's vest like an atomic "Kick Me" sign with a stupidly short countdown, flared to life in a single, glorious burst of victory. Squinting against the sudden wave of heat and brightness, Naruto grinned through the pain as the Shadow Clone was dispersed by the blast.

"Right, then. That takes care of that..."

**~V~**

Not far away, the real Kakashi's tired facade nearly slipped as the memory of his dispersed Shadow Clone returned to him. Which surprised him more, he couldn't quite say himself: that the clone had been defeated so swiftly, or that it hadn't even had time to register the source of the killing blow before it got him. Did Hinata know Fire Style Jutsu as well? It was a vague possibility, with her family's chakra control training, but...

The peg fit through the hole just as Kakashi caught a flying kick from Sasuke, blocking it with one arm and grasping his shin with the other. Sasuke, without missing a beat, turned this predicament into an opportunity to swing at Kakashi's face. With the arm he'd first blocked the kick with, Kakashi caught Sasuke's fist—

—and Sasuke kicked with the _other_ leg, a high sweeping kick at Kakashi's skull. The masked Jonin blocked it with a twist of the same arm he still held the fist in. For a brief instant the two were entangled, both of Kakashi's arms tied up with three of Sasuke's limbs as the boy half-floating nearly upside-down—

Sasuke smirked, and with his remaining free hand, made a grab for the bells.

_This kid—!_

And Kakashi had released Sasuke, almost throwing him, although Kakashi put far more energy into the burst of chakra that propelled his own body backward. Skidding to a halt, Kakashi felt the grin beneath his mask returning.

_He's not bad. For a novice, he's amazing. And that Naruto... using my clone's throw move to attach a bomb tag to its back, almost as if he'd planned it all along. And these three kids, despite the test, they're all..._

Sasuke, if he was disappointed about having missed his shot at the bells, didn't show it. He was still smirking, and the two stared each other down for a full minute before they heard the sound of someone's approach in the trees above.

**~V~**

"Are you okay, Naruto-kun?" Hinata said, holding out a hand to pull her crush to his feet.

"The only thing that hurts is my pride," said Naruto. A grunt, and then: "And my spine."

Hinata smiled, and helped him up. "Sasuke is keeping Kakashi-sensei busy, straight in that direction." She pointed into the trees. "It looks like there's enough room over there for... well... you know." Hinata blushed, and Naruto grinned impishly.

"Just don't let it fluster you when it happens," Naruto said, and he was off. Hinata followed, lugging the Substitution log along with her.

**~V~**

Naruto's arrival was announced by his kunai, which Kakashi skipped lightly backward to avoid. It speared itself in the dirt at his feet. Naruto, surreptitiously glancing around the area, nodded internally to himself. Yes, there was enough room to finish this up here without lighting the forest on fire.

Naruto came to a landing on Sasuke's right-hand side, assuming a basic defensive stance.

"Glad you decided to show up," Sasuke said.

"Ah, don't worry. I know you're hopeless without me," Naruto replied. Sasuke gave a light snort of feigned derision.

Kakashi took a few steps forward, wondering when it the elusive third member of their squad would make an appearance in the flesh. Was her role simply to watch with her Byakugan, sending messages to her comrades by way of Doppelganger? She couldn't be too far away, then. But there was one sure way to—

Before his train of thought stopped at that particular station, Naruto charged forward in front of Sasuke, who followed close behind. Naruto's hands flicked through a small set of basic signs—

And from the blind spot directly behind him, Sasuke's second Fireball Jutsu erupted, swallowing up Naruto, Kakashi, and the entirety of the small clearing.

**~V~**

The log on the ground next to Hinata was almost instantly replaced by the red-haired boy who'd masterminded the plan. Naruto took a deep breath, nodded at Hinata, and launched into another set of textbook hand-signs.

**~V~**

_Where will he be...? _Sasuke thought as the power behind his Fireball technique wound down, and the inferno faded into a wisp and then to nothing. His eyes widened when the only thing he saw remaining on the charred patch of land in front of him was the Substitution log left behind by Naruto. There was absolutely no trace of Kakashi at all.

_Left? Right? Behind? Above?_ Sasuke thought frantically, glancing and twisting around as he sped through the mental checklist.

"SASUKE! BELOW YOU!"

At Hinata's warning cry, Sasuke backflipped out of the way just in time to evade the hand that burst from the dirt to snatch at his ankle.

This hand was swiftly followed by an arm, a head and shoulders, torso, and legs: Kakashi Hatake sprung from the Earth and nimbly skipped to his feet.

"Earth Style," he said. "Groundhog Decapitation Jutsu." Grinning lazily through his mask, he looked to the Uchiha and added: "You would be neck-deep in dirt and rock right now, if it hadn't been for your friend over there."

"We're a team," said a stern, yet soft, female voice. Hinata stepped around from a nearby tree, extracting from her backpack a large, folded blade. "You can't tear us apart with a couple of tiny bells, sensei."

Hinata unfolded the Fuma Shuriken and poised herself to throw it.

"How touching," said Kakashi, seeming unimpressed. "But one of you is _still_ bound for the chopping block... assuming you even manage to get the bells at all."

Without another word, Hinata spun around and flung the shuriken—easily longer than her own torso was tall—through the air... but it was not aimed at Kakashi.

As the shuriken cut a harmless path through the air several feet to Kakashi's left, Sasuke sprinted into its path, snatching it out of the air without breaking stride, and then with a slight change of direction, ran straight up the nearest tree.

_He's familiar with tree-walking already—?_

He ran only a few steps before a burst of chakra through his feet blew a small crater in the bark, and Sasuke, not altogether unlike Kakashi had earlier, shot into the air like a rocket. He flew outward and upward, throwing the shuriken directly at Kakashi's midsection.

The speed of his throw and the speed of his chakra-boosted tree-jump were almost enough to undercut Kakashi's reaction time.

Almost.

But what actually did undercut his reaction time was what happened just before Kakashi made a move to block the projectile. The Fuma Shuriken burst into smoke mere feet away from Kakashi, and momentarily shocked by what emerged, Kakashi failed to register the truth in time to completely avoid it.

A thrown Fuma Shuriken had, in an instant, become an inhumanly fast flying tackle that sent both the victim and the perpetrator sprawling to the ground in a scrambling heap. Kakashi's vision was obscured by a mess of untamed red hair as their struggle snapped Naruto's hair-tie. A brief jingle of bells met Kakashi's ear—

—and Kakashi sent Naruto tumbling with an awkward, rolling backward kick.

Quickly checking himself over to ensure that the bells were still attached to his belt and that none of those infernal bomb tags had been slipped onto his person, Kakashi leapt to his feet in time to assume a defensive stance before the Hyuga and Uchiha had a chance to dogpile him.

"That," Kakashi said, no longer feigning disinterest, "was brilliant. You almost had them—"

His eyes found Naruto, who lay on his back on the ground some yards away. In his hand was a little orange hardcover book, open.

_What?_ Kakashi thought, eyes widening. _When did he—my supply satchel—_

Naruto jumped to his feet in the same full-body whip-crack motion as before, eyes skimming the pages of the book. He wore a lopsided grin as he turned toward Kakashi.

Kakashi's hand instinctively fumbled at the cover of his satchel, but he froze as Naruto began to read aloud from the book.

_No_, Kakashi thought, feeling an uncomfortable sensation well up in his stomach. _He wouldn't. He is! He's—_

"_'Does it feel good, Takeshi?' said Aika, eyes glittering as her finger slid lightly up his shaft—"_

_I don't believe it, he's actually reading that out loud!_

Naruto was really hamming it up, as well—he even managed to make the girl's voice sound weirdly alluring.

"—_'M-me too!' said Kaoru. 'I want to lick Takeshi's cock, too!' 'Hmph!' huffed Aika. 'You think you can give him the same pleasure I can? You were a virgin until five minutes ago!'"_

Sasuke's and Hinata's eyes never left Kakashi, though Hinata was obviously fighting back her own discomfort. Kakashi, on the other hand—his face was the picture of horror and embarrassment. _Well, what do you know,_ Sasuke mused. _The man has a bit of shame on hand, after all._

"—_'I can so,' Kaoru insisted childishly. Nudging Aika aside, she wrapped her dainty little fingers around Takeshi's engorged member, and the next thing he knew, he was in ecstacy as the two girls—_huh," Naruto broke off, quirking his head to one side. "Kinky."

Naruto snapped the book shut and threw it with all the speed and precision of a kunai knife, directly at Kakashi's face.

**~V~**

The plan would not have worked had Naruto not memorized and "read out" a portion of what Hinata had read out to _him_ with her Byakugan. The fact of the matter was, the bundle of twigs snugly bound together with steel wire in the rough size and shape of a certain little orange book... could only be held by the Art of Transformation while in direct contact with Naruto's body. The moment he threw it, it was a bundle of twigs again.

If Kakashi hadn't been so dumbfounded at the time, or if he hadn't been distracted from checking his supply pack for the genuine article, he would have had enough time and clarity of thought to dodge or deflect the makeshift projectile. As it was, he'd reflexively snatched a hand up to catch it before his brain had caught up to the fact that it wasn't really his copy of _Icha Icha Paradise_.

What happened when his exposed thumb came in contact with the sealing tag affixed to the underside of this unassuming bundle of twigs is not unlike the sensation one experiences when they stick a fork in an electric socket: Kakashi's entire body jerked involuntarily, the seal instantly jolting him with a brief but intense electric shock. In that vulnerable moment, while his body could not respond in time to prevent it, Hinata Hyuga pounced.

One muffled jingling sound later, and the Hyuga girl hop-skipped one, two, three steps back from Kakashi, who could only stare in numb disbelief (feeling literal numbness in his left hand) at Naruto, who's face was a blank... except for the small curve of a barely-perceptible, victorious smirk at the corner of his lips.

**~V~**

Hinata held up the bells for all to see, her own mouth slightly agape. She couldn't believe it. They'd actually done it. It had actually worked.

She looked up, first to Naruto, then to Sasuke, both of whom wore victorious, but strained, smirks that didn't quite reach their eyes. The two boys made their way to Hinata, seeming for all the world as though they'd forgotten Kakashi Hatake was even on the same planet as them.

The Jonin's mind was piecing together the scheme these three had concocted, and as the finer points became clear to him, he found himself resisting the urge to laugh. _That first frontal assault Naruto made,_ he thought. _It was mostly just a ploy so he could get a closer look at my book, wasn't it?_ It was, he was sure of it. That they had executed an impressive try at the bells in the process of that just made it all the more brilliant. And there was no doubt they had intended this last trick since the beginning. Hinata keeping her supply pack on her where the others had not—they had come up with the Fuma Shuriken ploy before they'd even known the specifics of the test. As for the "book" Naruto had "stolen," the only point at which he'd had time to memorize any of its contents would have been before he'd made his first move, while still in hiding and in direct contact with Hinata.

Come to that... when the three of them had moved to set their supply packs down in the first place, had even that simply been a cover so they could make plans out of earshot?

Kakashi watched the three without a word, wondering how this last bit would play out. He _could _just tell them... hell, it had been decided from the moment Hinata's Doppelganger had alerted the boys to the truth of his Shadow Clone, but...

The words of the Third Hokage floated to the surface in Kakashi's mind: _There's a reason I advised Iruka to assign this particular set of Genin to your cell, you see..._

Kakashi brushed his right hand through his hair, which still stood a bit more on end than usual, and flexed the partially-numb fingers of his right hand in an unconscious effort to restore full feeling to them. The three children now stood together in a circle, not saying a word.

Then, Hinata smiled, and held out both bells—one to Naruto, and the other to Sasuke.

**~V~**

"Whoa, whoa, _whoa_," said Naruto, pushing the bell on offer back toward the girl. "Back up, Hina-chan. I'm not going to take that bell from you after the hell you went through trying to graduate this year." Neither had Sasuke taken his bell, though he seemed less reluctant than Naruto.

"It's only because of you that I've made it as far as I have, Naruto-kun... you and Sasuke," she added, holding the second bell out still further toward the raven-haired boy, who slowly reached out and took it.

"I'm not taking the bell," Naruto said. It was a childish, stubborn proclamation, and he folded his arms across his chest as he he said it.

"Take it!" Hinata said. "It was your plan in the first place!"

"It was you that made the plan possible at all," Naruto countered.

"It was you two who were out there actually fighting him!"

"It was you who saved our butts by warning us before Kakashi could get the upper hand."

"You were the one who had the idea to transform into a shuriken!"

"You threw me," Naruto said, with a grin and a wink. Hinata's cheeks went pink.

"N-Naruto-kun, you only barely graduated at all," she said sadly. "And you had to try three times to do it! Three!"

"Well, I shouldn't have any problem graduating a second time, then," Naruto said. "Keep the bell, or I'm throwing the damn thing in the lake, Hina-chan."

**~V~**

Kakashi blinked in disbelief.

_Incredible,_ he thought. _So all this time... they've been working together all this time, with no hesitation whatsoever, and with nearly flawless teamwork... and... they never figured it out?_

Hinata slowly pulled back the hand with the bell in it. "Naruto-kun..." she whispered.

"Guys," Kakashi said, but the three ignored him.

"Hina-chan, I didn't bust my ass helping you graduate just so I could watch you fail here and get shipped back to school," Naruto said. "I'm not taking your bell, and that's final."

"Naruto-kun... thank you..."

_Oh, gods above, her eyes are tearing up, _Kakashi thought. "Um, guys?"

They ignored him again.

Sasuke was frowning, looking down at his own bell. The look on his face, Kakashi noted, was that of a man struggling with himself.

Naruto grinned a foxy grin at Hinata and Sasuke. "It's fine. I'll have that stupid Doppelganger technique mastered by the time Graduation comes 'round again, so passing next time'll be a snap!"

"Um... guys..." Kakashi said, a bit louder this time. And of course, they ignored him.

"Naruto-kun, I don't want to leave you behind!" Hinata said, blinking hard.

Naruto raised his hands in a _calm down_ gesture. "Hey, hey, don't you start getting all leaky on me now—"

Kakashi opened his mouth to interject more loudly, but Sasuke then did something that made Kakashi close his mouth. The raven-haired prodigy was holding out his own bell to Naruto. Rather than looking his friend in the eye, Sasuke was averting his own. A sour and awkward frown dominated his face. Kakashi hadn't thought Sasuke the type to do selfless things... and apparently, neither had Sasuke himself.

"I'm not taking _your_ bell, either," Naruto deadpanned.

"Just take it," mumbled Sasuke. "Rookie of the Year, remember? I'll be a Genin again before you know it."

"Sasuke..."

"You two had enough trouble getting through Graduation the first time. Just take it."

Naruto opened his mouth, then closed it again, seeming undecided, but before this heartwarming scene could go any further, Kakashi cleared his throat... loudly.

"Hey, _guys."_

The three turned sour faces on the masked man as he strolled over their little gathering.

"Keep your nose plugged, sensei, we'll be done in a minute," said Naruto.

"But that's the thing, you three... you _all_ pass."

The three sour frowns fell from their faces, replaced by blankness and incomprehension.

"Er... come again?" Naruto said.

Underneath Kakashi's mask, they could see the outline of a wide smile.

He looked at Hinata: "You."

He looked at Sasuke: "All."

He looked at Naruto: "Pass!"

The three junior ninja gaped at the man as he turned and beckoned them to follow him back to the practice field proper.

**~V~**

"Um... Kakashi-sensei?" Hinata said as they reached the place where the alarm clock sat. It still hadn't rung yet—in fact, they had a good ten minutes to spare.

"Yes?" Kakashi replied, no longer sounding either stern, bored, or lazy. On the contrary, he seemed happier than he'd been in their presence since they'd met him the day before.

"W-why do all of us pass?"

Kakashi reached around the back of the clock, hitting the switch that would deactivate the alarm bells. Then, casually, he turned around, looking all three of them in the eye one after another.

"Think hard," he said. "There's a reason I set the test up the way I did. What do you think that reason is?"

Sasuke and Hinata remained silent. They looked to each other, then to Naruto, who had closed his eyes. Eyebrows furrowed just a little, and a thoughtful frown on his face, he began slowly: "The bells... were supposed to turn us against each other..."

Kakashi nodded. Naruto opened his eyes.

"This wasn't about splitting us up," he said. "It was about seeing if we could overcome our individual interests..."

"...and work as a team for the good of all," Kakashi finished. Sasuke's eyes widened in realization, and Hinata let out a quiet. "...Oh!"

"A ninja uncovers the secrets within secrets," Naruto murmured, quoting the old adage that had been drilled into their heads from the moment they'd set foot into the Academy.

"Yes," Kakashi said. "The point of this exercise was to test your ability to work as a team."

"So if we'd made our own individual grabs for the bells," Sasuke said, "we would have failed, whether we got our hands on one or not?"

"Yes," Kakashi said. "In fact, not a single one of the teams produced by your graduating class is being passed or failed on an individual basis. Each and every squad either passes or fails as a team."

He beckoned them to follow him, and walked around the three toward the memorial stone across the way. When he reached it, he stopped, slipped his hands into his pockets, and gazed at it for a long while.

"This stone..." he said at length: it was almost a sigh. "It bears the names of many shinobi, all heroes of our village. But these heroes are special."

"Heroes who gave their lives," said Naruto softly, "in the line of duty... is that right?"

Kakashi nodded. "The names of my closest friends are engraved here," he said.

None of the three Genin knew how to respond to that. When Kakashi turned around, the atmosphere was somber.

"Teamwork," he said, "is the most essential tool in a shinobi's arsenal. And when that tool is forsaken, the results can be disastrous."

Then Kakashi smiled.

"You know," he said, "the three of you are the first Genin I've ever passed."

The three of them gave a start, glancing at each other, taken aback by the sudden mood swing.

"All of the others listened to every word I said, and fell into every trap," Kakashi continued. "None of them had what it takes to be ninja. But from the very start... no, even before that... you three did everything right. Even down to disregarding the warning against eating breakfast, if I'm not mistaken."

Naruto scratched at his whisker marks, a smile breaking out on his face.

"In the ninja world," Kakashi said, "those who disregard the rules and regulations are scum..."

The masked Jonin turned to look back at the memorial stone.

"...However..." he said, "...those who do not care for and support their fellows... are even worse than that."

Hinata was gazing in awe at their new sensei, as if truly seeing the man for the first time. Naruto just kept on grinning and scratching at his whisker-marks, for once in his life at a loss for some snarky taunt or comeback.

Kakashi turned back to his team and gave them a thumbs-up. "This exercise is now concluded!" he declared. "That's all for today, Team Seven. Your duties will commence tomorrow. So," he added, "why don't I treat you all to lunch? You've earned it."

"Sounds good to me," Naruto said, and the other two nodded their agreement.

**~V~**

That night, at the bar:

"...And on the way back, Naruto says to the others, 'Gotta love it when a plan comes together,'" Kakashi chuckled, "and the other two just give him this look, like, '..._Really?_' Naruto stares back at them with a dumb look on his face, and then says, 'Oh, I swear to God I didn't mean that!'"

Asuma Sarutobi snorted, tapped the ashes off of his cigarette into the tray on the table, and pulled another deep drag. Kurenai Yuhi shook her head, not sure whether to be amused or exasperated by the means of Team Seven's victory.

Blowing out a gentle stream of smoke, Asuma said: "Sounds like you've got yourself quite the team, Kakashi. I almost envy you. The three scamps I have... let's just say I've got my work cut out for me, and leave it at that."

Kurenai smiled—she knew just which three students Asuma had been assigned—and said, "My team shows a lot of promise. The Inuzuka and Aburame clans have always produced dependable ninja. The Haruno girl—Sakura—doesn't quite measure up yet, but she has potential as a genjutsu-type. I've decided to focus her instruction in that area."

"Raising a second Genjutsu Mistress of Konoha already?" Kakashi said with an air of surprise. "What's this, Kurenai? Feeling your age so soon? But you don't look a day over eighty-five..."

Kurenai, who was in fact no older than Kakashi or Asuma, answered this remark with dignified silence as she sipped her sake.

**~V~**

**Author's Note:** I had a devil of a time coming up with a decent scene for Naruto to read from _Icha Icha Paradise_; smut isn't my thing. In the end I cheesed my way out of writing my own by looking up a hentai scan on Google and changing up some of the names. So if you recognize the dialogue from somewhere, then yes, it's probably ripped straight out of the hentai volume you have stashed in your pillowcase... you sicko. =P

On a serious note, though, I really did have fun writing this chapter. I've been looking forward to the bell test since the beginning for just this reason. I'll be taking a bit of a break from this story before commencing with the next arc, but I may upload a few chapters for _It's Like D__é__j__à__ Vu All Over Again_ in the meantime if the mood strikes me.

Hope you enjoyed it, and once again, thanks to those of you who've reviewed, favorited, or subscribed to this story!


	11. XI: Naruto's Shopping List

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is a _Shonen Jump _publication written by Masashi Kishimoto. I am neither _Shonen Jump_ nor Masashi Kishimoto. If that doesn't say it all, I pity you for your lack of perceptive prowess, and strongly advise that you _not _pursue the way of the ninja.

**~V~**

**- Chapter Eleven -  
>"Naruto's Shopping List"<strong>

**~V~**

Sasuke wasn't in any particular hurry: knowing their sensei and his extremely annoying habit of showing up an hour-plus late to just about anything, he could likely walk six laps around the village, break for brunch, and still meander his way back to the meeting point well before Kakashi showed his lazy eye. What Sasuke _was_, however, was a bit anxious—so although he was merely walking, there was a bit of an edge to the act.

He'd made his way into the forest, and was nearing their old training spot. The three now had free access to their own personal practice field, so this quaint little clearing had outlived its usefulness... but Naruto and Sasuke had kept coming right along back here anyway, determined to finish what they had started with the tree-climbing exercise. Over the past week, the two had turned it into a competition: the first to reach the top of their tree would have to treat the other to an all-they-could-eat meal at the eatery of that person's choice.

Neither Sasuke nor Naruto would actually hold the other to the bet, but that was beside the point. The _point_ was that each was determined to beat the other.

So, naturally, the first place Sasuke went to look for Naruto that morning was the old training spot, where their two trees stood, now verily hacked beyond recognition or repair: the trail of kunai marks on both trees just went on and on—

Sasuke stopped, blinked, and checked again.

"...Naruto, you _bastard._"

...for the red-haired boy's tree now bore kunai marks running all the way up, as far as Sasuke could see. As he neared the tree, unable to resist a closer look, Sasuke could see that the trail of slash-marks ran right on up, twisting lightly around each branch that got in its way... all the way up to the very top.

Sasuke either smirked or grimaced—even he couldn't have said exactly which, and then looked to his own tree, which he hadn't _quite_ conquered yet. He'd come so close the night before, but that was one of the differences between he and Naruto: although the Uchiha prodigy's control had started out better than Naruto's (even seeming to progress more quickly), Naruto... just seemed to have more gas in his tank. Every time Sasuke thought he was gaining ground over his opponent, he would feel fatigue set in... and glance over at the other boy, who just kept on soldiering through. And although Naruto had left every one of their training sessions utterly drained, he invariably would bounce back the next day as if he'd suffered nothing more strenuous than a light workout.

Sasuke had no idea how he did it, but it had obviously paid off. Sasuke glanced 'round the clearing again: Naruto wasn't there. Well, at least he hadn't passed out on the forest floor again...

**~V~**

Hinata stood alone on the bridge that connected the markets to the outskirts, ignoring the occasional passerby. In her current state of worry, she had eyes only for the ground, and couldn't seem to stop her fingers from wringing each other for more than half a minute at a stretch.

"Yo!"

Hinata's head snapped up, and there, sure as sunshine, was Kakashi Hatake—hunkered down and balanced perfectly on a nearby powerline, one hand raised in lazy greeting.

"Sorry I'm late! Today, I got lost on the path of... um..."

Kakashi's customary example of how not to execute a ninja deception died in his throat as his single eye scanned the area for the two boys who weren't there.

"Where are the others?"

Hinata shook her head, eyes all a-worry: "Naruto never showed up, sensei, so Sasuke went looking for him a little while ago."

"Is Naruto one to oversleep?" Kakashi suggested mildly, leaping down from his perch to stand before the girl.

"No," Hinata said without hesitation. "He's usually one to arrive early. The only time I can remember him showing up late... well..."

Hinata fidgeted with her fingers, trailing off. Kakashi raised an eyebrow, then prompted: "'Well' what?"

"He was late to the Orientation last week," Hinata said quietly—guiltily, Kakashi noted—"because he worked himself to exhaustion and fell asleep... in the woods."

"You're worried he overdid it with those tree-walking exercises the boys have been doing?"

Hinata flinched, and Kakashi chuckled. "Y-you knew about that, sensei?"

"I suspected it," Kakashi said lightly. Extracting _Icha Icha Paradise_ from his supply pack, he opened it to a random page and started reading. "But it doesn't matter. The moment you advanced to the rank of Genin, those petty restrictions on independent training became a non-issue. As full-fledged ninja of the Leaf, you are not only _allowed_ to exert yourselves beyond the call of routine; you are _expected_ to."

Hinata breathed a small sigh of relief. "W-well, sensei, I just wanted to help Naruto-kun," she said quietly. "He hasn't been able to master the... um..."

"Art of the Doppelganger, correct?"

"...Y-yes, sensei..."

"Hence the chakra control exercise," Kakashi said with a nod. "Well, rules and regulations notwithstanding... I'm relieved to know the three of you are taking such initiative in helping each other grow in strength. I assume it was you who introduced them to the exercise?"

Hinata fidgeted with her fingers, a small blush tinging her cheeks. "Well... it's the least I can do, really... because... um..."

A voice stated: "Oh, you're here."

Sasuke had arrived, hands in his pockets and a look of irritation on his face. The statement had been directed at Kakashi—the unspoken _I didn't expect you to show up for another ten minutes or so_ was lost on none of them.

"S-So?" Hinata prompted, looking left and right for some sign of their group's third member.

"He was definitely out training," Sasuke said, "but he wasn't at the training ground, Ichiraku's, the dango shop, Leaf Cafeteria, Konohamaru's place, or the usual spot. The only place left to check is his home... and I have no idea where that is."

"I've been there," Kakashi said lazily. "If it was tree-climbing, he probably worked himself into such a coma that his alarm wasn't enough to wake him up."

"Well, if you know where he lives, we can just pick him up," Sasuke said. Kakashi nodded, and the three set off for the poorer part of town.

**~V~**

"N-Naruto-kun lives _here_?" Hinata said, eyes darting up and down around the dingy little apartment building, which was really more like a motel with more floors than usual. Kakashi noted that Sasuke's brow had creased a bit. Having lived their lives within the compounds of Konoha's two most powerful clans, Kakashi noted, neither of the two had any concept of just how difficult self-sufficient living could be when working from the ground up...

Sasuke and Hinata kept glancing at the walls and ceiling as they followed their sensei to the second floor. Kakashi's nose never left his book, but he was still aware enough of his surroundings to step over a chunk of wood that had tumbled loose from a wall. The building was circular, as were many of the larger structures in the Leaf, merely a series of doors lined up along a three-tiered tower of shoddy verandas.

At length, they came to a door that even Sasuke and Hinata knew to be Naruto's: beneath the room number was taped a poster bearing a dark-red circle with a spiral pattern. This symbol was common throughout the village, and could be seen adorning the back of every standard shinobi vest—Kakashi's included. From their history classes at the Academy, the three knew it to be the emblem of a former Hidden Village that had been especially friendly with Konoha, until its destruction during the shinobi world wars.

Naruto had always liked that symbol—he said it fit well with his surname.

Sasuke stepped forward and rapped on the door. "Hey, Naruto! If you're in there, get out here so we can pick up our mission for the day!"

"I thought you said you'd never been here?" Kakashi said. Sasuke waved him off.

A second series of knocks went unanswered, so Sasuke put his ear to the door.

Faintly, from the other side of the door, he could hear it: _Beep... beep... beep..._

"His alarm's still going," muttered Sasuke.

Hinata fidgeted with her fingers, and Kakashi said, "Alright, step aside, I'm going to pick the lock..."

But as Kakashi slipped a hand into his pack, and his fingers found his lock-picking tools, a gentle, feminine voice called out to them from the direction they had come:

"Hinata-chan! Sasuke-kun! I didn't expect to see you here!"

The two friends and their sensei turned to regard the woman who'd spoken—a simple young lady in a simple, unassuming dress, peeking around at them from behind two massive grocery bags cradled in her arms.

"Ayame-san," Hinata greeted, her confusion evident. "Do you live... in this place... as well?"

"Oh, no," laughed Ayame Ichiraku as she approached. "I'm sorry, but would you mind holding these, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke might have been about to accept or object, but had time for neither before the girl pushed her shopping on him. An annoyed-yet-thoroughly-whipped look on his face, Sasuke peeked into the two bags. Fruits, vegetables, and other assorted food items...

"So, since you two are here," Ayame said, "I guess my 'little brother' is still off in dreamland somewhere, huh?"

"Sounds like it," Sasuke said.

"I'm sorry, but... who are you?" Kakashi asked.

The young woman bowed her head and said, "Ayame Ichiraku of the Ichiraku Noodle Bar, at your service, sir! You're Kakashi Hatake-san, I assume?"

Kakashi nodded. Ayame swung her purse down from her shoulder, and pulled from it a ring of keys. Slipping one smoothly into the lock on Naruto's apartment door, she turned the key, turned the knob, and the door swung open, just like that.

With the door open, the faint blaring of the alarm became a deafening cacophony. All four gave a start and plugged their ears, wondering if what little budget this apartment had behind it had all gone into soundproofing the place. (Kakashi knew that it probably had; the owner quietly marketed the establishment as a cheap substitute for a love hotel, after all...)

"Hey, sleepyhead!" Ayame called, striding across the room to the half-open bedroom door. A moment later, the sound of the alarm ceased. "Hey! Sleepyhead!" Then a heavy sigh, and: "It's no good, guys. He's out like a light."

The three entered Naruto's room, one after another, to find him collapsed on his belly, fully clothed as they'd seen him the day before, on his bed. His pillow lay forgotten on the floor along with his ninja gear, which appeared to have been discarded on the bedside table only to have tumbled right off the side. Ayame stood staring at the boy for a few moments, and then, with another, almost motherly sigh, she picked up the pillow, put it on the bed, and gently rolled Naruto over to lay on top of it.

Naruto's clothes and hair were a mess, and he definitely smelled like the aftermath of a hard day's work. Dirt and dried sweat mingled hither and thither all over his outfit, in his hair, on his face and arms.

"He overdid it," Kakashi said. "But at least he had the sense to get himself home before giving in to exhaustion this time. We'll let him have the day off—I'm sure you two can easily handle a D-rank or two without your fearless leader to guide you, after all..."

The three returned to the almost claustrophobic living room, Kakashi shutting the door behind them.

"A-Ayame-san," Hinata said hesitantly, "w-why... do you have the key to Naruto's apartment?"

"And what's with the baggage?" Sasuke grumbled.

Ayame laughed, leaned over, and murmured in Hinata's ear. "Don't worry, Hinata-chan, I'm not here to steal your man from you." Hinata's blush and stuttering protest went unnoticed, as Ayame straightened up and said, "I just take care of Naruto's shopping for him every week. It's simpler for him this way. Could the three of you help me put all of this away?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, and Kakashi murmured: "...Ah." Hinata's blush receded as she pondered the meaning of this statement.

_Ayame-san does his shopping for him?_ Hinata thought. _Why would...? _Then, expression darkening: _...Oh._

**~V~**

The mission for the day: sweeping the west side of town for litter and picking it up. It was the kind of bare-bones D-rank that made all Genin sour-faced and miserable, and also the kind of bare-bones D-rank that no Jonin in their right mind would bother to supervise, so it gave Kakashi plenty of time to himself. He planned to make good use of that time, but there was something he wanted to check on before he did.

And so the silver-haired Jonin, nose firmly planted thirteen chapters into _Icha Icha Paradise_ (and privately enjoying the affronted looks he garnered from passersby as he walked down the street), swept aside a banner and slid onto a stool at the Ichiraku ramen stand.

"Large shrimp ramen, please," Kakashi said, without looking up.

"Oh! Kakashi-san, it's good to see you again."

Ayame turned a sunny smile on him that only slightly faltered when she caught sight of his "reading material." The old man behind the bar, whose name Kakashi didn't know, looked over his shoulder, acknowledging Kakashi's order with a friendly smile and a "Coming right up!" before going back to his business.

"I was actually hoping to talk to you about something, Ayame-san," Kakashi said, turning a page.

"Yes, Kakashi-san?" Ayame said. "What about?"

"Naruto," Kakashi said. "I was wondering exactly why he would need someone else to do his shopping for him."

Ayame frowned, glanced at the two other customers in the bar (one of which, a middle-aged woman, had bristled slightly at the mention of Naruto's name), and stepped closer to Kakashi. In a low voice, she said: "The vendors and shopkeepers don't like doing business with him. Not many of them are bold enough to turn him away, but they still do their best to be as unhelpful as possible."

"'Unhelpful' in what way?" Kakashi asked.

"It depends on the shop. Some of them overcharge him. A few deliberately try to foist expired or spoiled products on him. Some will insist they're out of things they know perfectly well are in stock. Most of them make it clear he's not welcome. Naruto isn't stupid, but there wasn't much he could do about it. A year or so ago, he asked me if I could do his shopping for him, so I've been taking care of it ever since. Please don't speak of this openly. If they know I'm shopping for Naruto rather than myself or my father..."

"My lips are sealed," Kakashi replied. "Thank you for taking care of my student, Ayame-san."

Ayame smiled, nodded, and returned to her work.

**~V~**

**Author's Note:** This is a short chapter (more of an interlude, really) that I never intended to write in my original mental outline of this story. The idea for it occurred as I was reading through what I _think _might be the fifty-sixth Naruto fanfic I've read in which the "hate" Naruto has to put up with consists of... being beaten by mobs and other such over-the-top bullshit.

I mean... REALLY? Are you people just totally lacking in subtlety? The cruelest things canon Naruto had to put up with was some lady referring to him as "that thing" within earshot, and the owner of a mask shop publicly humiliating him by shoving him away from the stall before throwing a fox mask at him. (This occurs during a flashback story during a series of _Naruto Shippuden _filler episodes, immediately after the Pain arc.)

Seriously, guys. And as an unrelated note... words like "jutsu's" are not plural. They are possessive. You are saying that something belongs to a jutsu. (I'm also reasonably sure that "jutsu" is one of those words that doesn't need an "s" for its plural form at all, but this is beside the point. Apostrophes are not needed for plural words! Basic, grade-school grammar, people! Learn it!) That apostrophe should not be there, and while we're at it, "loose" and "lose" are two different words! If you are refering to the opposite of "win," the word you are searching for is "lose." "Loose" is the opposite of "tight."

...Just sayin'. Okay, Rant Mode deactivated.

One more thing: I've been getting reviews that express the idea that my Naruto is "better" than the canon Naruto. Now, I realize that "better" is a subjective thing, but I respectfully disagree. I would like to express the view that canon Naruto is, in his own boneheaded way, a perfectly good character. And I like him. This is just a different take on the Naruto story and characters. While it may or may not be more to a given reader's tastes, I refuse to think of this Naruto as a "better" protagonist than the original. More skillful at this point in the story? Definitely, definitely. Better-written as a character? That's another matter altogether.

Thanks for reading, reviewing, favoriting, subscribing, and all that jolly encouraging shit. Toodles!


	12. XII: Bitter Shadow, Crimson Claws

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is a _Shonen Jump _publication written by Masashi Kishimoto. I am neither _Shonen Jump_ nor Masashi Kishimoto. If that doesn't say it all, I pity you for your lack of perceptive prowess, and strongly advise that you _not _pursue the way of the ninja.

**~V~**

**- Chapter Twelve -  
>"Bitter Shadow, Crimson Claws"<strong>

**~V~**

Naruto was up and about the next day, no worse for the wear but not particularly happy that the others had left him out of the previous day's activities. When Sasuke told him he should just be glad to get out of picking up soda cans and thrice-stomped-upon cigarette butts off the streets, Naruto had conceded the point. Their mission that day had been no more exciting: Tora the cat had escaped from the vile clutches of the Fire _Daimyo_'s wife. Again. And so the three Genin had been tasked with catching the cat and returning it. _Again_. One week as Genin wasn't nearly enough for these three to fully appreciate the well-earned reputation of this feline monstrosity, but they would... oh, they _would_, all in due time...

Today, however, had been a bit weird. It seemed to Naruto that he was getting a few more odd looks than usual lately, but when he'd accompanied Hinata and Sasuke into the convenience store that morning—to pick up some snacks and a few bottles of soda with which to pass some of the time as they awaited the arrival of their ever-tardy sensei—the balding man at the counter had jumped upon seeing Naruto and exclaimed, "G-good morning, young man! Can I get you anything?"

The idea of a convenience store owner acting as though his job paid by commission was odd enough, but his "smile" looked extremely painful. Like the act of moving his face muscles into such an expression was the oral equivalent of bending one's elbow in the wrong direction. Naruto had simply quirked his head to one side, then ignored the man until Hinata and Sasuke had picked up their choice of snacks.

He had no way of knowing that all of the town's stalls, shops, and eateries had each received an identical, very polite letter from the Third Hokage himself, reminding them that certain business practices, if reported to the office of the Hokage again, may result in the immediate revoking of an establishment's license to do business. The wording had named no specific persons, only listing off a number of offenses. There was an unspoken _you know who you are, and who I'm talking about_ sitting right there between the lines, and this was lost on precisely no one.

Ayame and Teuchi Ichiraku were in high spirits that morning.

This afternoon's D-rank mission happened to involve the local shinobi hospital, something the three found at least mildly interesting. Although their only jobs were menial tasks—cleaning medical tools, fetching the first aid kit on the wall, cleaning the bathroom, et cetera—it was a chance to see medical ninjutsu in action up close, and to learn a thing or two about treating injuries. It was a quiet day, relatively speaking. The most eventful occurrence for the first two hours was a young girl being rolled in on a fold-up wheelchair, her leg in a splint and tears drying on her cheeks, spending less time being tended to than being lectured by the medics and her peeved-off father about exactly why children shouldn't attempt to climb buildings and how civilians weren't allowed on rooftops to begin with.

Naruto spent as much time as he could pestering any nearby medic shinobi to learn the specifics of how medical ninjutsu worked, with limited success: a few made a point to ignore him, and when one of them finally did offer a grudging summary of the art, it had been because a certain young lady with indigo hair had flashed her Byakugan at the man behind Naruto's back.

It was now the trio's lunch break. Kakashi had, of course, gone off on his own... probably wouldn't be back until an hour or so after they returned to the hospital. Sasuke, not being a fan of sweet stuff, had excused himself to pick up some rice balls. Naruto and Hinata thus sat together on the bench outside of the dango shack, enjoying their dumplings. (The proprietor of _this _shop had been weirdly agreeable today, too...)

"So, anyway, Hina-chan," said Naruto after popping his first bite into his mouth and savoring it. "I was thinking... these D-rank missions are captivating and all, but really, I think we should talk to Kakashi-sensei about maybe getting something... well, a little more... mission...ish."

Hinata giggled at the lameness of the statement. "I don't know, Naruto-kun," she said. "I mean, it's true that part of me wants to see... what we can really do, but..."

"Hina-chan," Naruto said, "we're shinobi. And we're spending our days chasing after lost pets and pulling weeds for old ladies. I'd feel more productive if we were just out training all day or something—it's a complete waste of time, and it won't get us any more ready for the real work than we already are."

Hinata nodded, conceding the point. On the other side of Naruto, a woman in a trenchcoat plopped down and noisily gobbed down a three-piece dango skewer—_one, two, three!_—gasping contentedly before chugging a can of red bean soup. Hinata, distracted for a moment by this energetic display, took a moment to answer.

"I suppose we _should_ talk to Kakashi-sensei about it," she said, "but I want to ask Sasuke what he thinks first."

"Ah, Sasuke's answer is a given. The look on his face says clearly that he thinks these D-ranks are beneath him."

"True... and I don't think Kakashi-sensei will have a problem with it... we all did well on his test, and I'm sure he knows about your fight with Mizuki... so if we ask nicely—!"

Hinata was suddenly and very loudly cut off: the purple-haired kunoichi sitting next to Naruto gave an exaggerated start at the mention of Mizuki, snapped her head around to look at the red-haired boy seated next to her (spattering a bit of red bean soup on her fishnet undershirt as she did), and stood up.

"YOU!"

Naruto and Hinata both winced at the shout, and everyone in the immediate vicinity turned to regard the disturbance. She had raised a her free hand, and was pointing directly into Naruto's right eye—had come dangerously close to poking it out.

"Uh... can I help you?" Naruto asked, in that backing-away-slowly kind of voice.

_Chug. Chug. Chug._ The woman downed her red bean soup and chucked the now-empty can at the nearest trash can—landing a perfect shot from half a street away without looking, though Naruto and Hinata were both too transfixed by her appearance to notice this. Her eyes were as wild as her haircut, which was tied back in a ponytail that stood on end in an almost spiky, windswept mass, like the mussed-up tail-feathers of a peacock. Beneath her open trenchcoat, she wore a short skirt and mesh undershirt which did nothing at all to hide her lack of a bra or rather substantial "assets." The only thing concealing her nipples from view appeared to be the coat itself.

This woman grinned at Naruto for a moment, and then he was flailing around, desperately trying not to drop his dango stick, his head caught in a solid lock as this insane, purple-haired kunoichi administered unto him the _grandpappy _of all noogies.

"YOU!" the woman cawed again. "That! Was! Awesome!"

"Help! Help! I need an adult!" cried Naruto.

"Aw, don't be like that," the crazy lady crooned playfully. Then, cackling: "I just wanted to shake the hand of the brat who shoved a bomb-tag up that sneaking bastard's asscrack! You done _good, _bratface. I haven't had that much fun with T. & I. in a _looooong_ time."

"Can I at least get dinner and a drink first?" Naruto whimpered.

At last, the crazy-haired woman released him, and Naruto breathed in, and out, and in, and out, collapsing back down on the bench. Hinata's face was frozen in what might have been shock, insult, or just a plain, flat "...what." Also, it was red again.

Naruto popped another piece of dango into his mouth (having valiantly kept his grip on the skewer throughout the ordeal), swallowed, and said: "Okay, obviously you worked on Mizuki for Torture and Interrogation. So, uh... who are you?"

The woman, still grinning a maniacal grin, sat down next to Naruto and said: "Anko Mitarashi. And you, bratface, would be Naruto Uzumaki, am I right?"

"That's what they call me to my face," Naruto said mildly.

Anko gave a knowing smirk, and Hinata, watching the exchange, thought she saw something pass unsaid between the two. Whatever it was, Naruto was grinning as he said: "So, if you were the one interrogating Mizuki after that little incident—"

"Can't say anything, classified intel and all that," Anko said, cutting him off. "It was interesting, though, particularly for me. So I guess I just wanted to thank you personally for nailing the bastard in time for my shift." Her smirk twitched upward a pinch. "The burns were a nice touch. Really moved things along, if you know what I mean."

"I'm torn between 'that's evil' and 'I hope you made that jackass _scream_,'" Naruto said.

"Yes it is," Anko laughed. "And yes... I did." She winked, and stood up. "Well, back to work. See you when I see you, bratface."

And Anko strolled right on away, whistling some random tune in the most vindictive way Naruto had ever heard anyone "whistle" anything.

Naruto blinked a few times before turning back to Hinata, whose eyes were fixed on the back of Anko's trenchcoat.

"So," Naruto said, "how 'bout them C-ranks?"

Hinata glared at Naruto and said: "That's not funny."

"Yeah, you're right, it sounded a lot better in my head."

**~V~**

Many Genin would mumble, grumble, whine, bitch, moan, or otherwise make a fuss about the menial tasks assigned to rookie ninja—those random chores and errands that for some reason passed as "D-rank" missions. Unbeknownst to most of these rookies, the D-ranks did serve a certain underlying purpose. A ninja was, after all, supposed to maintain a semblance of discipline at all times, as well as a dedicated and patient work ethic. The immature misconceptions about a ninja's role in his village, and the usual yearning for "real action," needed to be gradually worked out of a Genin's system. Consequently, it was usually the Genin who cooled down and accepted the tedium of D-rank missions more quickly who found themselves granted shots at "real action" early on.

Sasuke was too stoic and introverted to really complain, although anyone who knew him could tell that these "missions" put him in a bad mood. Hinata, on the other hand, was the kind of gentle person who didn't relish the idea of "real action" in the first place, so she seemed quite at home. These were two very mature, highly normal reactions to the D-rank assignments that Jonin instructors usually took as signs that their pupils were just about ready for a nice, easy, novice-level C-rank mission.

Naruto Uzumaki was a bit of an anomaly in this regard, though. He seemed determined to do something truly productive with his time no matter what he was expected to focus his attention on at any given moment. As a result, he'd spent almost the entire capture-Tora-the-cat mission using nothing but chakra to hold assorted leaves, twigs, bits of forest debris to his face, chest, and arms, in a kind of makeshift chakra-control exercise, only relenting when they found the cat and had to keep quiet enough to get the drop on it. He'd spent their first D-rank—pulling weeds from someone's vegetable garden—working one-handed, glancing back and forth between the weeds he was pulling and the book he was reading (the subject being shinobi politics, and his expression growing steadily more sour the further he delved into the subject).

Today, he was balancing a leaf on the bridge of his nose with chakra as he went about the tasks assigned him in the shinobi hospital. It was a low-key chakra control exercise combined with a basic Academy concentration exercise. He'd dropped the leaf several times over the first few hours, but it had been a good two-and-a-half since his last failure, so Naruto was feeling optimistic. If he kept this up, he'd have _Bunshin no Jutsu _bagged within the week.

And so he found himself walking down a semi-deserted second-floor corridor with a tree leaf stuck to his nose and a bundle of bedsheets tucked under his arm. Their supervisor was a black-haired woman named Sanyu Nara, who had smiled warmly at the three until her eyes met Naruto's. Then, her face had become a mask of stone, and her manner strictly professional. Well, Naruto mused... he'd put up with worse over the years...

So Naruto's spirits were high, as he happily tuned out the chore he'd been tasked with. Sanyu had sent Hinata to the storage area in the basement to fetch antidote ingredients that the upper levels' respective cabinets were running short of, and Sasuke was doing the same job as Naruto on the lower floor. That job was changing the sheets in rooms whose patients had recently been discharged. Normally, this would be a job for multiple people and would be over before you knew it, but that was the whole reason this D-rank had been called for in the first place.

All three of this year's greenhorn Genin cells had been given the same mission, which they undertook with minimal inter-squad interaction. Sasuke had promptly ducked out of sight to avoid the inevitable fangirl fawnings and squabblings of Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka; the rest felt no urge to give anyone else on any of the other teams so much as the time of day. They were each dispatched to different wings of the hospital to assist different supervisors with different tasks.

Today was the anniversary of the end of the first shinobi world war, so many of the Chunin- and Jonin- level shinobi with nonvital tasks had been given leave to kick back and do whatever. It was the sort of the day on which D-rank missions thrived. Combine that with the shinobi hospital's "quiet season" (that brief period of respite between Chunin Exams, where there weren't so many injured Genin to tend to), and what you get is a relatively empty west wing. Hell, the floor Naruto was on seemed to be deserted, and he hadn't seen a single medic-nin aside from the supervisor since before lunch...

...Which suited Naruto just fine. A full hospital meant the shiola had hit the fan and sprayed all over the populace. Better that medic-nins be short on work than the village be long on lacerations.

Naruto was changing the sheets on his third bed when it happened: his entire body froze in position. Then, against his will, his hands pulled themselves up into a hand sign. He couldn't tell which—he was unable to will his head to look down at them, and for some reason couldn't even properly feel the positions of his fingers.

_Wha...?_

A soft, cold female voice—a familiar voice—answered his unspoken question:

"Shadow Imitation Technique... successful."

"Ggh," Naruto grunted, recognizing the name. He'd never seen, much less _felt,_ the Nara clan's trademark shadow-paralysis Jutsu in action, but he'd heard about it from Hinata, who was fairly knowledgeable about the Hidden Leaf's more prominent clans. More disturbingly, the voice had come from mere feet away, directly behind Naruto—Sanyu Nara had given no indication of her approach.

"Nara-san, what are you—?"

Naruto resisted in vain as his arms moved on their own—one clutched at empty air in front of him. At the same time, he felt Sanyu's hand on his right shoulder, physically holding him in place, though it seemed at the time a formality. Naruto's right hand, which appeared to be holding some invisible object, pulled up, and back—then thrust itself downward.

A sharp, intense prick of pain in the back of Naruto's neck: he'd been stabbed with a syringe. Almost instantly, what little feeling remained in his body withered to a mere wisp. He felt the binding influence of the Shadow Imitation spell release it's hold, and he was pulled backward by the woman behind him.

Roughly, but quietly, the woman turned him around, and set him down sidelong across the bed. His legs lolling like bags of dirt over the side, he could do nothing to dispel the haze that clouded his mind, could not so much as twitch a finger. The most he could do was roll his eyes.

Dimly, he heard the door to the room slide shut, and then Sanyu Nara was standing over him, that stone-cold mask in full force as she leaned forward, pale green eyes drilling into his own.

"To think," she whispered, "that after all this time... you would just fall right into my arms... eating and laughing beside the very daughter of the friend whose death I swore to avenge..."

Naruto wanted to gasp, but his lungs wouldn't let him—his breath came in slow, shallow sighs, and would do no more than that.

Sanyu leaned closer, breathing into his ear: "Don't bother trying to move... the drug I've injected you with prevents you from moving so much as a finger. Have you realized, perhaps, monster? This is a highly potent date-rape drug. I've been keeping a vial on my person for the last twelve years... that such a distasteful thing could be the ultimate downfall of a creature such as yourself is... almost delicious, in a way..."

Naruto wanted to speak, but his lips and throat would not oblige. Naruto wanted to thrash out, but his limbs wouldn't answer his call. He could barely even widen his eyes to express his fear.

"You _will_ be conscious, at the end..." Sanyu murmured, almost sensually. "You will listen, as I tell you why I end you, and you will be awake to feel the pain as I slowly... oh, so slowly... slice open your neck... and leave you here... alone... to choke and drown on your own blood..."

Beneath the numb, unresponsive haze that bound his body, Naruto's veins ran cold.

"Do you remember, demon..." Sanyu breathed, and then she lifted her head just enough to swing it over his face, nearly brushing her own lips to his as she switch to his other ear, "...a woman, a kunoichi of the Leaf, named Mitsu Hyuga?"

Naruto would have grimaced, but could only roll his eyes in the direction of the murderous whisper.

"She was gentle..." Sanyu murmured, "...and kind... the nicest person I've ever met. She never did have the spirit of a shinobi, but I think that's what I loved about her... she was... a light... in this dark world we shinobi have unwittingly built up around our own heads..."

Naruto could feel something sharp, and cold, sliding gently across the flesh of his throat... not cutting, not yet... and the blade of the unseen kunai knife stopped, tip hovering over that place where one might feel a pulse—

"...she always lived her life with that damned curse hovering over her... under the iron thumb of the Hyuga Clan's Main Branch... but she never let it get her down. She was strong... so, so strong... and her courage was beyond what words can tell..."

Gently, the point of the blade bit just the tiniest bit into Naruto's neck. A small, warm trickle of blood oozed out—

"...and she was happy... happier than I'd ever seen her... when she learned she was with child..."

The blade bit in just a little bit deeper.

"Who could know, demon? Who could know that when her daughter's birth came too early, when she emerged from the womb an undergrown, frail little thing, that it was actually a blessing in disguise?"

Naruto's eye twitched as the blade bit still deeper—

"...Yes... you know, the day of the demon fox's attack came just one week after little Hinata's premature birth... and my dearest friend, my beloved Mitsu, she rushed out to join in the defense of the village, against my urgings and her husband's, all so she could ensure that her daughter survived long enough to outlive _you..._"

Deeper, and quivering now—the trickle of blood quickened, became a small stream—

"...but you... that wasn't enough... now... you have the gall... to call yourself that girl's friend... after you deprived her of her _mother!_"

The woman was growling moreso than whispering now, and the blade in her hand trembled—

"...I've waited twelve years for this day... so that I could end you... but more than that..."

Naruto had never so badly wished to tremble and shrink back in his life, but his body wouldn't let him—

"...I wanted to tell you... to your face... when you were old enough to understand why..."

Her hand steadied, as did her voice—

"...and so, I lay in wait, looking for the best time... the best chance... and here... you are... in my... hospital... _alone._"

Sanyu Nara pulled her head up, met Naruto's eyes with clinical disdain, and said:

"This is the end for you, Nine-Tailed Demon Fox."

For Naruto, what happened after that was a swirling red haze of pain, blood, and desperation.

**~V~**

Kakashi felt the burst of vile chakra from half a block away; every sensor-type shinobi in the village caught at least a brief flash of it, no matter their distance; and everyone within and around the hospital itself could clearly feel the thick, almost liquid wave of pure killing intent that washed out from the epicenter on the second floor.

But the most telling thing of all was the bloody, battered woman's body, dead before it landed, which burst out the window and fell, torn, broken, and bleeding, tumbling to the the ground below like a grizzly sack of refuse. There it lay, in the front yard of the hospital, and there the two stand-in Genin attendants from Team Asuma found it: Shikamaru Nara, pale and wide-eyed at the sight of his distant relative's broken body, and Choji Akimichi, whose first instinct was to reel back and vomit on the grass.

Hinata and Sasuke reached the room first, and it was there that they found their closest friend collapsed on the floor, clutching at his own slashed throat and snarling like an enraged animal as he squirmed in a pool of his own blood.

**~V~**

Hinata's arms were laden with various vials, jars, and assorted herbal concoctions as she made her way to the main supply cabinet on the first floor, stuffed as neatly as possible into a shoddy, duct-taped-together cardboard box. She had only advanced a few yards away from the stairwell when it happened. The wave of foul chakra was so intense, so concentrated, and so vicious that Hinata—who had never before actually _felt _chakra, or detected it with anything apart from her Byakugan eyes—lost what strength she had in her arms and legs. She and her haul of medical ingredients tumbled and clattered to the ground, several of the items breaking open or rolling away. Hinata, in that moment, couldn't have cared less.

A cold sweat broke out over her, and she found herself shuddering, nauseous, on the verge of losing it completely. This aura of rage, of... murder... it was soaking into her _bones_, eroding her marrow—at the back of her mind, she felt a wild urge to curl up and cry—

A voice in a nearby room growled out: "What the—?"

And Hinata was snapped from her trance by Sasuke Uchiha, who emerged from a room one door down from Hinata's location. The bundle of bedsheets forgotten, he too was sweating, although it wasn't affecting him quite as much as her.

"Hinata!" Sasuke rushed over to the girl, and she struggled to her knees—

_CRASH!_

Above them, the sound of glass breaking... no: _exploding_.

"Hinata—Byakugan!" Sasuke ordered sharply, and after a brief instant of fear and hesitation, Hinata turned her head toward the disturbance and complied.

As the veins flared up over her temples and her white-lavender pupils slid into focus, all the blood drained from her face, her head snapped up toward the ceiling, and she screamed:

"_NARUTO-KUN!"_

**~V~**

The raven-haired boy's heart nearly stopped at the girl's cry, and for the first time since that terrible day—for however brief an instant—Sasuke Uchiha was paralyzed by fear.

Then he was in motion.

Hinata was running, sprinting, faster than Sasuke had ever seen her move—up the stairs, down the second floor corridor, and then she was struggling with a locked door, yanking at it, pounding her fists at it, screaming his name—

"Stand back!" Sasuke snapped. She did so, almost stumbling over sideways in her panicked frenzy, and Sasuke worked as fast as he could.

Lock-picking is a precise art, and the shinobi hospital's locks were top-quality. After the fact—when he finally laid eyes on what Hinata had seen—he would come to wonder how he managed to find it in himself to remain calm and focus on the task. Behind him, Hinata was well beyond the stage where she could be called a nervous wreck. She was frantic, physically holding her own mouth closed with both hands to avoid distracting her teammate.

Finally, the lock clicked, Sasuke slid the door open—and Hinata blasted right past him, no longer aware of anything but the red-haired boy whose throat was gushing blood at a dangerous rate.

Sasuke was, for the second time in the last two minutes, frozen. Naruto lay in a growling, squirming heap before them, a slick trail of blood running from the nearby bed to his current position. The window overlooking the yard had been totally shattered, blown outward by some cataclysmic force, and even more blood was splattered on the floor and walls around it. On the floor near the bed lay an empty syringe and a bloodied kunai knife. But more disturbing than any of this was Naruto himself.

His blue eyes were now red, his pupils now predatory slits. His fingernails, clutching at his own throat to stem the flow of blood, had elongated into claw-like shapes. His steadily weakening squirms and snarls revealed canines that had lengthened to deadly razor-sharpness, and those whisker marks that adorned his face had... thickened? It was hard to describe, and Sasuke was in no state of mind to put it into words.

His appearance was nothing less than beastly, and with the sight in front of them, neither of two held any illusions as to the source of that dread, bone-chilling wave of chakra they felt. It was even now still seeping out, and Sasuke realized with mixed relief and horror that it was _dwindling._

Hinata was on the ground next to Naruto, holding herself at the very edge of panic by the barest thread, her left hand grasping one of Naruto's as the other fumbled for her first aid supplies. Naruto's breathing was ragged, raw—but he was _breathing_, despite the copious amounts of blood that had flowed from his throat and mouth.

Hinata urged, _begged_ Naruto not to die, to stay with her, and Sasuke finally found his voice.

Not that his cries for help were necessary: an instant later, Asuma Sarutobi swung into the room through the shattered window, took in the scene, and yelled down at his students to alert the medics. Then he too was on knees beside Naruto, doing what little he could to stabilize the boy long enough for a medic-nin to take over.

In Hinata's hand, the demon's claws receded. Beneath closed eyelids, the rage-filled eyes of the Nine-Tails faded to blue.

And the very curse that had brought this upon the boy continued to work, more slowly now, mending the damage...

**~V~**

**Author's Note:** There we go. That's how a ninja tries to take the life of a demon. With stealth and careful planning. Leave it to a Nara to show you fuckers how it's done.

That is all.


	13. XIII: The Demon's Jailor

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is a _Shonen Jump _publication written by Masashi Kishimoto. I am neither _Shonen Jump_ nor Masashi Kishimoto. If that doesn't say it all, I pity you for your lack of perceptive prowess, and strongly advise that you _not _pursue the way of the ninja.

**~V~**

**- Chapter Thirteen -  
>"The Demon's Jailor"<strong>

**~V~**

When Naruto drifted back to consciousness, he was in an unfamiliar bed staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. A pale light bathed his surroundings from an open window off to the side, just barely out of Naruto's range of vision. His first thought was a dim one: he wasn't hearing an alarm clock. Those three must have gone off without him again. Weird, though. He didn't remember training... or going back home, for that matter...

And then his brain caught up with the "unfamiliar" part. He tried to turn his head to get a better view of his surroundings—but couldn't. His neck was in some kind of brace. He felt at his neck, and wondered for a moment why it was so heavily bandaged.

"Hn. You're awake. The doctors said you'd be out at least until tomorrow..."

"Sasuke?" Naruto said—and his voice came out a bit raspy. "Where am I?"

"The hospital, where else?" Sasuke said, keeping his voice down. There was a sound of light footsteps, and the raven-haired boy stepped into the left side of Naruto's peripheral vision. Naruto rolled his eyes to look at him.

"Why am I in the hospital? What happened?"

"I was hoping _you_ could tell _me_," Sasuke said with an annoyed grimace. "Kakashi-sensei says you were attacked, but no one would give us any details. Hinata and I decided to stay the night..."

Naruto blinked. "Aw, Sasuke, I'm touched. But you know I'm not like that, right?"

Sasuke let the jab pass. "So... you don't remember?"

"...I remember I was changing sheets, and then..."

Naruto closed his eyes, and the next detail he dragged from his mind—the feeling of a sharp, stabbing prick at the back of his neck—brought it all rushing back. His hand shot up to clutch at his neck, and he sat up... immediately slumping back down as a wave of dizziness overtook him.

"Easy," Sasuke murmured. "You've been out for over ten hours. It's past midnight. You'll need some time to recover. I heard the medics saying that you _should _be dead."

"Well, I'm glad the doctor doesn't know what he's talking about, then..." grumbled Naruto. Then he said: "Hang on, you said Hina-chan was here?"

"She fell asleep sitting by your bedside. Holding your hand and everything. I set up a little bed for her on the floor with some spare sheets and stuff. The staff didn't like it, but the Third shot them down."

"Hokage-sama was here?"

"Yeah, he was here," said Sasuke. "Just for a little while. Assigned some woman to guard the door out there—why would you need a guard? And why did that bitch try to kill you in the first place?"

"...N...Naruto-kun...?"

Naruto sighed, closing his eyes as he heard a quiet disturbance on the floor to his right—Hinata, picking herself up from sleep. Then she was leaning over him, almost crying with relief despite her eyelids being a little too heavy for her.

_Gods, but she's so cute sometimes..._

"Naruto-kun... you're awake..."

"Yeah, I'm awake. Overslept again. Go figure..."

Hinata moved out of sight for a moment, and Naruto heard something being dragged along the floor and set beside him. Then she was sitting next to the bed, head in her hands, laughing softly.

"How do you do that?" she asked.

"Do what?"

"Just... joke it all away all the time? Even after something like this?"

Naruto made a motion as if to shrug, but only partway managed it with the brace on his neck. "Well, Hina-chan, if it's a choice between laughing and crying," he said, "is there really any contest?"

Sasuke grunted his usual "hn," then said: "I'm still waiting for an answer, Naruto. Do you have any idea why that crazy bitch tried to kill you?"

Naruto grimaced, remembering everything that Sanyu Nara had whispered in his ear as he lay helpless on a bed in front of her.

"Well..." Naruto began, uncertainly. The other two looked on, Sasuke expectant and Hinata biting her lip. Then the door slid open. A moment later, Naruto was squinting: the florescent lights had flickered on.

"_Thought_ I heard voices," a familiar, feminine voice announced. "Hey, bratface, how are you holding up?"

Naruto could tell before she moved to stand at the foot of his bed that it was Anko Mitarashi, although he pushed himself up into a sitting position, looking at her to be sure. The lunatic he'd met by the dango shop hadn't seemed nearly this collected. "Hyperactive" would have been a better word. This Anko was calmer, and her expression a bit sympathetic.

"Anko-san," Hinata greeted. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Volunteered to stand guard overnight," Anko said. "More of a formality, really. There's no reason to expect anyone else to try something like this, but what the hell, Hokage-sama wanted a guard and I'm a bit of a night owl anyway." Then, with a slightly strained smile: "I couldn't help but feel a little jealous, Naruto-_kun_. You go and let some bimbo jump you, after we hit it off so well? Didn't think you'd forget about me so soon..."

Hinata gave Anko an annoyed look, which was spoiled by the red tinge her cheeks had acquired. Naruto made an uncomfortable noise through his grin, and said, "Anko, please don't make me laugh right now."

"Right, right. Sorry," Anko said. "I guess you're not traumatized or anything, if you can take a joke like that."

"How bad is it?" Naruto asked bluntly, jabbing a thumb at his neck.

"Well," Anko said, "the way I heard it, you were about fifty-percent headless."

Hinata, Sasuke, and Naruto all gave her perplexed looks.

"I mean, pretty much slashed right on through your windpipe, esophagus, the works."

Naruto blinked. "Wait, hang on. How did I live through that?"

Anko scratched at the back of her head. "...We just happen to have some really badass medic-nins on hand!" she said with a sunny smile.

"That was a bad lie," Naruto said flatly.

"Terrible," Sasuke agreed.

"No aptitude for ninja deception whatsoever," Hinata said.

Anko, pouting, said, "It's not something I'm supposed to be telling anyone without express permission, so just be glad I told you guys as much as I did."

Naruto scratched at his left cheek, then said slowly: "...Is it related to... you know...?"

"Related to what?" Sasuke asked. Hinata's eyes became a bit more alert.

Anko, seeming uncomfortable, didn't answer. Naruto said, "Because if it is... you can tell us. I have Hokage-sama's permission to tell the people I trust about it, and there's no one I trust more than these two right here."

Anko relaxed, then said: "Yeah, alright. This is only what I managed to drag out of Kakashi, though, so take it with a bit of salt."

Sasuke was looking back and forth between Naruto and Anko, brow furrowed.

"Well, as I say, your throat was pretty much _fatally_ screwed," Anko said, "but when the medics got to you, they found it partly healed."

"Partly healed?" Naruto echoed.

"Yeah. Keep in mind, this was minutes after you got 'murdered.' So it shouldn't have had time to heal yet. But your injury'd regenerated well enough that you could breathe..."

Naruto was silent. Both of his friends were staring at him now, and Sasuke opened his mouth to say something—

"...Only, it regenerated in an incredibly half-assed way," Anko finished.

"Half-assed how?" Naruto asked, apprehensive.

"Half-assed the way a bone is when it heals itself together without being properly set. Only it was your windpipe and stuff that were out of whack."

Naruto's hand found his bandaged throat again, some of the color fading from his face.

"So they had to operate," Anko continued. "They had to cut it all apart again so they could straighten it out."

"You mean like re-breaking a bone," Naruto said.

"Yeah, exactly. It's that kind of shit that makes us wish Tsunade-sama of the Sannin was still around."

Hinata looked like she was going to be sick, and swayed lightly in her seat—then froze. Naruto's hand was on top of her own. In her surprise, she released her grip on the bedsheet.

"Hey, calm down, Hina-chan," Naruto murmured. "I'm still here, aren't I? Don't let it get to you. Injury is a part of the profession."

"...Not usually part of the D-ranks..." Anko muttered. "But yeah, bratface is right. You'll have to get used to it sooner or later. I guess if there's one good thing that came out of this, it's that Naruto here got his first kill out of the way—"

Naruto choked: "What? Kill? What? ...She's dead?"

Anko looked at him in surprise. "You don't remember?"

"I remember... something..."

Naruto, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands, took a deep breath, and then another.

"Yeah, I remember. Out the window. It's a bit of a blur. I panicked and lost it. But..." he removed his hands from his eyes. Skeptically: "Wait. I was drugged. I couldn't move. What the hell happened?"

"That's why I'm not supposed to talk about this to anyone who doesn't already know," Anko said, scratching idly at the back of her neck as she did. "Kid... you haven't told these guys about _that_ yet, right?"

"About _what?_" Sasuke demanded.

"About the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox..."

Sasuke, Naruto, and Anko all gave a start at the pronouncement. All three turned to Hinata, who was now staring at her knees, fidgeting with her fingers. The statement had been quiet, almost like a confession, and the look on Hinata's face said she regretted opening her mouth.

Naruto twisted around, so that he could look Hinata square in the eyes. When she looked up, they were apologetic.

"How... long have you known...?" Naruto murmured.

"I..." Hinata faltered, and then: "I-I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, but when Mizuki told you... I was in the forest at the time, and I overheard... but I don't care! You're not the Fox, you're you, and—!"

"Hina-chan."

Hinata broke off: Naruto was smiling. Sadly, but smiling, and looking her in the eye.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

All Hinata could say was: "...I'm sorry, Naruto-kun..."

"You don't need to be sorry," Naruto said. "But you didn't need to keep it from me, either."

Then Sasuke growled: "Could someone _please_ tell me what the hell this is all about?"

Naruto sighed, turned to Sasuke, and said: "You remember what happened twelve years ago on October Tenth, right?"

"...The Nine-Tailed Fox attacked..." Sasuke answered slowly, "...and the Fourth Hokage defeated it..."

"Right," said Naruto. "But what you and pretty much anyone under the age of twenty _don't_ know is how he defeated it."

Anko chimed in: "Long story short, he sealed it in a newborn baby and that baby grew up to be the village pariah because people are too _fucking stupid _tell the chainsaw maniac from its jailor. Woo-hoo, happy childhood memories!"

The silence that followed this pronouncement was deafening, and rather awkward. Naruto scratched that his whisker-marks.

"...That," he said, "was blunt, insensitive... and a pretty accurate summary of what I was about to say. Thanks for saving me the oxygen, Anko."

The purple-haired kunoichi popped off a mini-salute. "That's what I'm here for, bratface."

Sasuke closed his eyes, was silent for a time, and then: "That explains a lot."

Naruto let out a dry chuckle. "You have a real flair for drama, Sasuke. Really. You should take up theater."

"So you're saying the reason the hospital supervisor tried to murder you is because you have the Nine-Tailed Fox trapped inside of your body."

"Exactly."

"So that massive wave of evil chakra..."

Naruto blinked, frowned, and echoed: "Massive wave of evil chakra?"

Hinata fidgeted with her fingers. "N-Naruto-kun... when you were attacked, you... well..."

"Went berserk, tore out a woman's jugular with your fingernails, and blasted her out a second-story window," Anko said. As she spoke, she again scratched at the back of her neck. "In other words, you went all 'Angry Time' and somehow tapped into the power of the demon she was trying to kill."

Naruto slumped back against the head of the bed. "...I did, huh..."

"Yeah, you did. And everyone could feel it when it happened."

Naruto groaned. "That's not a good thing, is it?"

"Well, I'm not going to lie," Anko said. "The first thing the investigators assumed was that _you_ murdered _Sanyu_."

"They didn't!" Hinata said. Sasuke's lip curled into a snarl.

"They did," Anko said. "Fortunately, the evidence left behind made it pretty obvious what really happened... never mind that Naruto was so heavily dosed at the time that it was a wonder he could even defend himself at all."

"So I'm on thin ice right now, because people think I'm even more dangerous than before," Naruto said shrewdly. "On top of that, I might actually _be _more dangerous than before."

"Hokage-sama doesn't seem to think there's a problem," Anko said, "and I trust his judgment. The Council, and anyone else who's aware of exactly what happened, may be wary of you. But the Third Lord's put a gag order on the whole incident. So as far as the villagers go, you should be fine."

"Or as 'fine' as I was to begin with." Anko answered with a sardonic smirk. "Okay. I guess that's one worry off my chest."

Sasuke had closed his eyes, going over the situation in his head. Now, he opened them and spoke: "...What I want to know..." he said slowly, "...is why no one has tried something like this before now, if so many people know that Naruto has the Nine-Tails sealed inside of him?"

"That's a good question," said Naruto. "A lot of people hate me, that's obvious enough, but the worst I've put up with is some shitty teachers, uncooperative merchants, and a whole lot of funny looks. No one's actually tried to hurt me before... except that one time this drunk dude threw his bottle at me, but he seemed to think I was his estranged wife, so I'm not sure that counts."

"That would be for a couple of reasons," Anko said. "For starters, the Third made any acts of assault on you a capital offense. Then there's the ambiguity of the sealing technique used to contain the Fox. Most people aren't actually sure whether killing you would kill the thing or not. For all any average Joe in the village knows, killing you could _release_ it. Makes sense when you think about it: if the Fox could be killed so easily, why did the shinobi brass let the brat containing it go on living?"

"..._Would_ the Nine-Tails break free if I died?" Naruto asked uneasily.

"Fuck me if _I _know," Anko said, shrugging. "But I doubt you'd be allowed to take on missions as a ninja if it would, so I'm betting that's a 'no.' You'll have to ask Hokage-sama if you want specifics. Even he might not know everything, since the one who did the actual sealing is no longer among us."

"So why now?" Sasuke cut in.

"...Ah..." Anko suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Yeah, about that... Sanyu Nara... I took a peek at her file earlier, and... well, you probably shouldn't take this whole thing too personally..."

"She tried to kill me," Naruto deadpanned. "Why in the name of the First Lord's almighty ballsack would I _not_ take that personally?"

Anko sighed, scratching at her nose. "Because," she said after a moment, "Sanyu Nara hasn't quite been right in the head since the last great shinobi war ended."

Hinata stuttered, "Y-you mean, she was mentally unstable?"

"The signs were there," Anko said, "but it was never really confirmed. See, the Nara clan's pretty well-known for producing these cool-headed, patient, crafty types. So although the Powers That Be saw fit to pull her from field duty and sideline her into a nice, quiet desk job here in the village, Sanyu was never obvious enough about what was going on in her head that anyone could've seen this coming. She lost a lot of friends to the war, so when she lost one more to the Nine-Tails, I guess no one really gave it enough thought to guess that she'd nurture a grudge for twelve goddamn years before acting on it. That's what happens when crazy mixes with genius, I s'pose..."

Naruto sighed, and asked: "What about her family, or friends? Do they—"

"Sanyu happens to be a distant cousin of Konoha's Jonin Commander," Anko said, "but that man is also a freakin' genius. Which is the opposite of an idiot. He won't hold it against you. As for anyone else, I couldn't say, but Sanyu's file says she's a bit of a recluse, so I don't think there are many friends or family members you'd need to worry about in any case."

"...Maybe I should apologize to the Nara clan..."

"Apologize for self-defense?" Anko snorted, incredulous.

"When you put it that way, it does sound a bit silly."

Hinata piped up: "Sh-Shikamaru-san was here earlier, Naruto-kun. He didn't seem to hold it against you."

"Shikamaru-san?" Naruto echoed. "You mean, the pineapple-head from the Academy?"

"Y-yes, he was here."

"Why?" Naruto asked, perplexed.

"It wasn't just him," Sasuke said. "The other two teams who were working in the hospital at the same time as us, too. All of them showed up for a visit at one point or another."

"...Why?"

To Anko, something about the stricken look on Naruto's face at that moment was... heartbreaking? Not quite, but somewhere in the neighborhood. It wasn't the look itself, it was what Anko realized when she saw it.

The look on Naruto's face was one of undisguised hope, mixed with longing and loneliness, but tinged with guarded skepticism. It was at this point that Anko realized just how much of Naruto's previous cheer was a forced act. That act had crumbled, if only for a moment, at the suggestion that Naruto's former classmates cared enough about him to visit him in the hospital—the idea that he was being acknowledged by more than just his one or two closest friends.

The look was there, and then it was gone, replaced by simple puzzlement.

"To check up on you, of course," Sasuke said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Although Ino and Sakura did try to hit on me again..."

"That's not what I mean. I mean, I barely know them. Like, at all. And they never bothered with me before..."

"Naruto-kun, they were all here when it happened," Hinata said gently. "You can't just expect them to know you were so close to death, and not feel anything..."

"...I guess..." said Naruto, and he seemed satisfied. "So... what about Shikamaru-san...?"

"H-he just said he never really knew Sanyu that well to begin with," Hinata said.

"...Something about family gatherings being too much of a drag," added Sasuke dryly, and Hinata smiled at that. Even they knew how much the Nara boy loved to complain about anything and everything that took time out of his day.

Naruto let out a small sigh of relief. "Well, that's good. Shikamaru-san always seemed like an okay guy. I didn't want him holding it against me or anything."

Hinata opened her mouth to speak, and instead yawned. Massively. Covering her mouth with both hands, she blushed and wiped a tear from her eye.

Naruto chuckled. "You should get back to sleep, Hina-chan. I think we all should. I still feel a bit off, anyway."

"I suppose," Hinata said reluctantly.

"Hn" was all Sasuke had to say on the matter. He returned to his chair by the wall, sat down, crossed his arms, and leaned back.

"Right, then," Anko declared, turning to walk back to the door. "You kids make yourselves cozy. I'll do my job. Oh, yeah—almost forgot—"

Anko stopped in the doorway, her hand on the lightswitch, and looked back over her shoulder at Naruto.

"I wanted to give you some advice," she said, now deadly serious, "as someone who's been almost exactly where you are now. It's about that power..."

Naruto scratched at his whisker-marks. "What about it?"

Anko paused for a moment, idly scratching at that same spot at the back of her neck.

"Don't take this the wrong way, kid. I'm not judging you for what happened—I'd be the last person on the planet to do that—but that power is evil. If you try to use it,_ it_ will use _you_. So don't let it tempt you. If you do, there's no telling what might happen."

Naruto nodded in understanding.

"I'm not just saying this for your sake," Anko said. "You could become a danger to the people around you. Just don't turn into a case defense for the jackweeds around town, alright?"

"Got it," said Naruto.

"Good. Sweet dreams, bratface."

Anko flicked off the lights and slid the door shut. Naruto sank back onto his pillow, and the three said their goodnights.

Thus did their first week as Genin come to a close.

**~V~**

**Author's Note:** This part of the story may be a bit hit-or-miss, but I really wanted to do something apart from just re-write story arcs that already exist in canon. So this is what I came up with. It was mostly unplanned, but I had always intended Naruto's first use of his Jinchuriki powers to occur in a vastly different way than what happens during the Land of Waves mission in canon, and I'd been tossing the idea around in my head that Anko Mitarashi would fill Iruka's slot as a sort of "big sibling" figure in Naruto's life (the Iruka connection just doesn't seem as solid without that "class clown" thing going). So all of this seemed a good angle to work with.

If any of you were expecting a heart-racing medical drama to arise from this, sorry to disappoint. Hospitals are, thankfully, something I have zero experience with. As an unfortunate side-effect of that, writing about a hospital is beyond me. Oh, well.


	14. Interlude: When Ripples Make Waves

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is a _Shonen Jump _publication written by Masashi Kishimoto. I am neither _Shonen Jump_ nor Masashi Kishimoto. If that doesn't say it all, I pity you for your lack of perceptive prowess, and strongly advise that you _not _pursue the way of the ninja.

**~V~**

**- Interlude -  
>"When Ripples Make Waves"<strong>

**~V~**

Anko Mitarashi's first thought was that this was by and far the most utterly _beaten_ town she had ever set foot in. Not physically, of course; the town was perfectly intact, and its inhabitants, while destitute, looked more or less healthy... if a bit undernourished. And she'd seen poverty worse than this before—for Anko, the sight of a few dirty-faced urchins curled up in a side-alley barely registered as a blip on the ol' radar.

But Anko had been trained by Ibiki Morino, a master manipulator of the human psyche, and even though her job with Torture and Interrogation was strictly a part-time 'tween-mission filler gig, she knew how to read people. What she was reading now was _defeat_. There was no other way to describe it... this town, and all the people in it, had been beaten into the ground. By what, exactly? Anko couldn't say. Whether it was connected to her own mission or not, though, she supposed she would find out soon enough.

Anko strolled casually through the town, her leaf headband tucked safely out of sight. She glanced impassively through the window of a bakery as she passed: the shelves were nearly bare. As she walked, she radiated a subtle aura that said she was not one to be fucked with—not enough to draw any more attention than her own unusual appearance would by itself, just enough to ward off the attention she was already drawing. Up her sleeves, however, she kept a pair of kunai at the ready, just in case. You never could be too careful, and in this case she literally had no idea what she might run into. It could be a tragic accident that posed no danger to her, or it could be the almighty second-cousin-twice-removed of the Seven-Tailed Rhinoceros Beetle. There was no telling.

All Anko knew was that a team of Genin with just over a years' worth of experience, along with their Jonin sensei, had departed on a C-ranked bodyguard mission three weeks ago, and there had been no word from them since.

Thus, Anko had been sent out solo—which was how she preferred to fly, in all honesty. Teamwork was all well and good, but at the end of the day Anko felt most comfortable working alone. She also felt more comfortable working assassination gigs than anything, but alas, this was simple recon: find out what had happened to Tazuna the bridge-builder and the Genin cell that had been assigned to protect him on his way back to the Land of Waves.

Anko's prediction was a dark one, as her predictions tended to be: the entire team had been killed. If so, however, someone had hid the bodies, and their scent had long since faded from the roads leading from Konoha to the Land of Waves. Even if Anko couldn't confirm the deaths of the previous year's Team Two, however, she had to at least find out what might have caused it. Anko had a sneaking suspicion that finding out what was going on in the Land of Waves and finding out what had happened to those unfortunate Genin might be one and the same thing.

The real issue had been getting into the Land of Waves to begin with. The small island nation had grown somewhat reclusive in recent years, and there was no direct connection to the mainland—although there was a bridge... or half of one...

When Anko had attempted to use her authority as a Leaf Ninja to enter through legitimate means, she had been denied access. (Bastards.) Infiltrating by boat had been tricky, but nothing Anko couldn't handle. The morning mist had been especially helpful in that regard.

Anko knew from experience that the quickest way to gain intel on the general state of any given community was to go to the nearest pub and get piss-ass drunk—or, more accurately, listen to the ramblings of others as _they_ got piss-ass drunk. So as she walked up and down the streets of this impoverished community, she kept an eye out for such an establishment—being careful not to outwardly appear as though she were looking for something.

She passed a number of obvious thugs on the street as she walked. Each graced her with a lecherous leer, but her aura of "don't fuck with me" had thus far been enough to put them off. Thus far, anyway. She hoped she wouldn't have to deal with any of them more directly. She wasn't opposed to using her feminine wiles to her advantage, but if she had to choose, she'd rather just listen to the ramblings of piss-assed drunks at the local pub.

**~V~**

Three hours, five bottles of sake, one small bribe, and twenty-seven dango skewers later, Anko Mitarashi departed the Woozy Blowfish with exactly the information she needed—and now she understood why the townsfolk looked so gods-damned beaten.

The Land of Waves was under the control of a shipping company run by Gato, a man who was as short as he was monstrous. Although known to the world at large as a legitimate businessman, in truth he made his wealth selling drugs and contraband, employing mercenaries and shinobi to do his dirty work for him. In recent times, Gato had set his sights on this small, secluded island nation. Once he'd secured a solid monopoly on all import and export, he'd essentially conquered the country. In the larger scheme of things, this wasn't important—the Land of Waves was an insignificant nation that held no military strategic significance of any kind whatsoever, and didn't even have its own shinobi village. In retrospect, perhaps they should have invested in one to prevent just such a thing as this from occurring.

Well, the long and short of it was this: Tazuna the bridge-builder (may he rest in peace) had been stubbornly pioneering the construction of a grand bridge that would connect the Land of Waves to the mainland continent, creating a conduit of commerce that would punch a hole in Gato's monopoly and give the people of his land a fighting chance against the tyrant. Gato would not let that happen, and the people of Wave had known it. Putting two and two together, Anko could imagine what had happened: Tazuna, lacking the funds for proper shinobi protection, had taken the only route available to him. He had filed a request for basic protection from bandits and highwaymen, hoping that this protection would be enough to fend off whatever measures Gato might take to end the bridge-builder's crusade.

It had obviously not been enough, for Tazuna had been assassinated and his head proudly displayed in the streets by Gato's thugs, as a sadistic "example" of what happened to those who disturbed the "order" of this land. Although Anko couldn't help but respect the bridge-builder's intentions... mostly, she just seethed. The idiot had gone and gotten three inexperienced Genin and one well-respected Jonin kunoichi killed.

_I mean, what the hell, man? _Anko fumed internally as she set out for her next destination. _You had to know this would end badly. The worst part is, if you'd just been honest about it, the Third would have understood. An arrangement could have been made, and you could've been given _real _protection. And you could have turned this beaten-down little island into something great. But no. You just couldn't place your trust in the ninja you expected to defend you with their lives. Well, old man, you fucked up. You fucked up bad, there's nothing else for it._

There was one more stop Anko needed to make before she departed the island the way she had come: the former home of the bridge-builder, occupied now by his widowed daughter and one very distraught grandson.

This was not going to be a pleasant visit.

Anko dearly wished she could just sneak into Gato's headquarters and stick a knife in his eye. It would be simpler that way.

**~V~**

**Author's Note:** Too bad, so sad. See, there are drawbacks to Naruto not being an impulsive, immature loudmouth. And hey, this alternate timeline can't be _all _sunshine and daisies... well, I suppose it _could_, but I'm not that lame.

On a more serious note, I have a mild case of writer's block and can't even think of a decent second chapter for my other story. I had to struggle just to write this much—fortunately, I'd always intended this little interlude to be as short as it is, so 'tis enough. The next chapter may be a little slow in coming.

As for Zabuza and Haku, and whether they will play a direct role in this alternate history, I honestly have no fucking idea at this point, so don't even ask.

**Author's Note #2:** This has come up a few times in reviews for this chapter-"Which team died?" The answer: nobody important. Just to make this clear, the team of Genin in this chapter is said to be lead by a Jonin kunoichi and to have a little over one year of experience. This means it's one of the other teams that graduated in the same year as Might Guy's squad. It might be one of the teams that failed in the first or second stages of the Chunin Exams, or it may be one of the teams that never took it at all. The point is that there are more ninja trainees in Konoha than just the "Konoha Twelve," and that not all major changes to the timeline are going to have a direct impact on the main supporting characters of the series.

This chapter exists only to confirm that the Land of Waves arc has been shot to shit and to suggest that Zabuza and Haku are still at large. That is all, and that is everything of importance.


	15. XIV: Baby's First B Rank

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is a _Shonen Jump _publication written by Masashi Kishimoto. I am neither _Shonen Jump_ nor Masashi Kishimoto. If that doesn't say it all, I pity you for your lack of perceptive prowess, and strongly advise that you _not _pursue the way of the ninja.

**~V~**

**- Chapter Fourteen -  
>"Baby's First B-Rank"<strong>

**~V~**

_**Saturday – 9:30 PM – The Night After the Mission**_

Ibiki Morino wasn't much of a drinker. In fact, he wasn't especially big on _any_ of the three shinobi vices—he was a man who prided himself on his thriftiness, and he liked his women few and far between... they were sweeter that way. Discipline was a quality he'd picked up and held fast to from a very young age, and though he wasn't quite as holier-than-thou about it as he'd been during his teenage I'm-invincible-and-know-everything-about-the-world Chunin years, Ibiki still had a reputation for being a bit of a prude. (Not that he _was_ a prude, but what the hell. The peanut gallery could believe whatever the fuck, for all the damn _he_ gave about it.)

That said, tonight was one of those rare nights when the head of Torture and Interrogation wanted nothing more to do with his own spare time than to head out to a bar and work up a nice buzz. Not an especially loud buzz—he figured he'd just drink himself to the point where he could just _barely _still walk straight, and then call it a night. Typically, this was the mood he would find himself in when he'd been forced to go to extreme lengths in interrogation, or just had a lot on his mind for some reason or other and wanted to shut his brain up so he could get to sleep already.

Contrary to popular belief, Ibiki wasn't a sadist. He was, in fact, just someone who was really good at shutting his own emotions off in the interest of completing his objectives... which often involved pretending he got off on torture and mental manipulation. So it would be more accurate to describe this man as a "really good actor." Anyone who was acquainted with Ibiki on a personal level (rather than with his intimidating reputation or scar-covered visage) knew him to be a warm, social type of guy. It was, ironically, this side of his personality that had allowed him to accumulate the psychological insights that made him such a terror in the "Honesty Room."

Once in a blue moon, though, he found himself exactly where he was now: sitting in one of Konoha's more secluded taverns, sipping some of Konoha's better cocktails. As with his torture, Ibiki was a man who savored his drinks. As _opposed _to his torture, he didn't need to _pretend_ he was savoring them.

Ibiki had been sitting in a booth at the back of the tavern for, oh, maybe about fifteen minutes when a familiar voice woke him from his contemplations.

"Hey there, Ibiki," Anko greeted. She was holding a bottle of sake in one hand and a saucer in the other. "One of _those _nights, eh?"

"Anko," Ibiki said. "When did you get back?"

"'Bout an hour ago."

"So what happened?" Ibiki asked, taking another sip of his cocktail. "Were you able to confirm the status of—?"

"Damn it, Ibiki, I came here to forget about that," muttered Anko. She slid into a seat across the table from Ibiki and promptly ignored the saucer: _chug, chug, chug. _Heaving a contented sigh, she put the bottle on the table and growled: "The whole damn team is either dead or missing without a trace. Probably dead. You wanna know _why_? Because the old man lied about why he needed protection, that's why."

Ibiki groaned, massaged his forehead, and downed half his glass in one gulp. _That old story, huh? Figures, _he thought. It wasn't unheard of, really, although it wasn't very _common_, either. Inexperienced shinobi had been killed or injured in the past due to clients who wanted to scam a village into giving them ninja on the cheap. The clients would typically wind up dead or injured themselves because of it.

"I'm just glad I'm not the one who has to break it to the parents," Anko said. _Chug, chug, chug._ Another gasping sigh. "...I'm fucking terrible at that sentimental shit. Hey! Waitress! You, with the pigtails! Another bottle of sake over here!"

"What did the client _really_ need?" Ibiki asked.

"Probably a goddamn ANBU squad, if Fumiko couldn't handle it," Anko grunted. "Her team didn't exactly suck, either. But whoever did 'em in covered their tracks, and covered 'em good. The team never even made it back to the bridge-builder's house, although they definitely got as far as the Land of Waves itself. Had a chat with the ferryman who smuggled 'em in."

Ibiki raised an eyebrow. "Smuggled?"

"The island's more or less ruled by a corporate asshole who controls all legit inbound and outbound traffic. I had to sneak in, myself. They don't like shinobi over there... or at least," Anko added with a meaningful frown, "shinobi not on Gato's payroll."

"Gato?" Ibiki echoed. "Of Gato Shipping and Transport? _That _Gato?"

"Yeah," Anko muttered. The waitress brought Anko her sake at this point, which Anko took and promptly brought to her mouth—_chug, chug, chug_. "Long story short, Gato wanted the old man dead. And he got the old man dead. As for what happened to the team assigned to protect him, I hope Tazuna burns in hell for it. So, did I miss anything while I was gone?"

Ibiki, realizing that Anko was done discussing the tragedy in Wave for the moment, decided to drop it. Anko and Fumiko hadn't been close, but the two had graduated in the same year and had held mutual respect for each other's abilities. All in all, it wasn't surprising that Anko was in a drinking mood this night.

Ibiki shook his cocktail glass gently, swishing what was left of the drink around a little, and then downed the rest of it in one final gulp.

"It's been a weird week," he said, setting the glass down on its coaster.

"'Weird' how?" Anko asked. "What happened?"

Ibiki seemed to contemplate his answer for a moment, then said: "Uzumaki happened."

Anko, who was taking another swig from her sake bottle, nearly choked. "Wait, what? Bratface? What happened?"

"It's... classified," Ibiki said slowly, "but I can tell you this much. That boy... Naruto Uzumaki... he's one interesting kid."

Anko snorted. "Hell, I knew that much already."

"He's also one of the few and the proud who can say they scored a successful B-rank for their career file within their first two months as Genin."

Anko actually did choke on her sake this time.

**~V~**

_**Sunday – 11:06 AM – Naruto's Day Off**_

Naruto sat alone in the kitchen of his ratty little apartment, his back to the doorway and hands out at the ready. He'd formed the necessary hand-seals... or what he thought were the necessary seals (trying to figure out another shinobi nation's carefully-guarded ninjutsu secret on one's own was proving to be a real bitch of an endeavor)... and applying the knowledge of chakra-control theory he'd researched over the last few weeks, he focused all of his being on trying to manifest and maintain at least _one_ functioning chakra-thread for more than three minutes.

On the kitchen table before him lay a simple, hand-made, wooden puppet, roughly the size and shape of Naruto himself but with no distinguishing features or functions. It had no face, didn't even have fingers; it was Naruto's idea of what a puppetmaster's training dummy must look like. In truth, the idea to actually wield puppets in combat was one Naruto only pursued by association. What he really wanted were the chakra-threads that Suna's puppetmasters used to manipulate their weapon-laden monstrosities. Ever since Naruto had read up on the Art of the Puppetmaster in that hideously boring book (_A General Overview of Foreign Shinobi Tactics and How to Counter Them_), he hadn't been able to stop himself from contemplating the merits of combining his own homemade sealing tags with chakra-threads.

True, he could use ordinary shinobi wire to achieve a similar effect, but the idea to use chakra-threads presented two useful advantages. First, he needn't carry them or extract them from his supply pack in order to use them. Second, they could be actively manipulated in spite of gravity or environmental adversity, making for more versatility in how they could be tactically applied to any given situation.

Naruto knew he wouldn't always be able to trick his opponents into voluntarily coming in contact with a bomb-tag or stun-seal, as he'd done with Mizuki and Kakashi, so trying to find new and more active ways to apply his _fuinjutsu_ to combat scenarios had been at the top of Naruto's priority list for some time. Kakashi, unfortunately, hadn't been especially helpful in this regard; the man's reputation as the Copycat Ninja was well-earned, but the Art of the Puppetmaster was a skill he could only offer basic advice about. He'd seen it in action, he'd said, and understood the theory behind it, but had never used it. Claimed it wasn't his style.

His advice had been helpful enough, but Naruto had still needed to request scrolls on advanced chakra theory from the Archives. That had been a pain in the ass of a different nature—no matter how generic, any and all documents pertaining to the Secret Arts were considered, well, secret. Even chakra theory needed to be guarded with a certain degree of jealousy—after all, one wouldn't want bandits and highwaymen adding ninjutsu to their list of ways to make the world a miserable place. So there had been a veritable run-around of permission slips and clearances and what-have-you, and Naruto had gone home with a killer headache that night.

It had been worth it, though. It turned out that once you had enough chakra control to successfully execute _Bunshin no Jutsu_ (Which Naruto could now execute! Huzzah!), the ability to utilize shape-manipulation effectively enough to generate one or two chakra threads wasn't far behind. Over the last three-and-a-half weeks, Naruto had devoted almost all of his free time to working out how to use chakra-threads practically. It had taken two weeks for him to figure out how to make one at all; now came the part where he worked out how to manipulate objects with them.

Hence the puppet. Naruto really didn't care about the "puppet" part of Puppetmaster Jutsu, but he was of the opinion that if one was going to run three quarters of a mile, one may as well just run the whole damn track. Naruto wasn't going to consider his mastery of this Jutsu complete until he could freely manipulate at least this simple mannequin. That level of skill was still a long ways off.

As Naruto's first two strings materialized, attaching themselves to the mannequin, the boy caught a whiff of something that put him on guard. He resisted the urge to frown and just kept doing what he was doing. A third thread materialized. It glowed bright blue, shining like a beacon in the dim light of his apartment. He'd heard it was possible to suppress the chakra in such threads to the point where they were nearly invisible, but that level of control was _also _a long ways off...

A twitch of his fingers and the mannequin's torso began to rise. Two arms floated upward, reaching fingerless hands up toward the ceiling—Naruto had to resist a ridiculous urge to roar, _It! Is! Alive!—_and the puppet's head lolled uselessly as the body beneath it rose into a tenuous, half-assed sitting position.

Then, faster than you could blink, a coil of ninja wire wrapped itself around Naruto. Concentration shattered, the chakra-threads dissolved and the mannequin toppled onto the table.

And then it was sitting in the chair. Naruto was reclining on the table where it had been, eying the restrained mannequin with mixed annoyance and amusement.

"Good morning to you, too," he deadpanned at the woman who stood in the doorway, the ninja wire trailing from her hand to the trussed-up puppet. He then pushed himself off the table, turning smoothly around to lean casually against the kitchen counter.

"How'd you see that coming?" Anko asked, smirking as she tugged the wire loose and tucked it away in her satchel.

Naruto tapped his nose, his eyebrows crinkled up in an expression of distaste. "You smell like dried sweat, booze, and... Anko," he added mildly, "I've been working on enhancing my sense of smell with chakra. You know, so shit like this won't catch me off-guard. As a friend, I'd like to make a suggestion. If you have any shame at all... like, _at all..._ you might want to consider showering a bit after you get laid-up. Because it's kind of awkward to tell someone that that their scent carries with it a hint of semen. Just sayin'."

Anko blinked. It occurred to her that this was the first time in her life outside of Sex Ed class that she'd heard anyone actually use the word "semen" in a sentence.

"So, bratface," Anko said, opting not to acknowledge the commentary regarding her personal... aroma. "I have it on good authority that shit went down while I was away."

"You could say that," Naruto said with a shrug. "The team and I went on our first C-rank mission last week. You know, standard courier mission. Transport expensive work of art to destination while fending off any thieves, bandits, or ne'er-do-wells who seek to acquire said expensive work of art. Surprisingly easy mission, actually."

"And you went on your first B-rank _this_ week," Anko stated.

Naruto's eyes widened slightly, then he scratched at his whisker-marks. His grin was a sheepish one as he muttered, "You... ah... heard about that, huh?"

"I've only heard that it's classified," Anko said sweetly, "and that it was a B-rank mission. Now, bratface, I'm curious. How in the hell does a _B-rank_, of all things, end up 'classified?'"

"If I tell you that, I could get in some serious trouble," Naruto stated matter-of-factly.

"You could," Anko said, still in that deadly-sweet singsong voice of hers. "You could also get in some serious trouble if you _don't_ tell me."

Naruto sighed. _So much for practicing the Art of the Puppetmaster this morning... _

"Alright, alright," he said. "But it's a long story. And if I tell you this, it doesn't leave this kitchen. We crystal?"

Anko slid her fingers over her mouth: _My lips are sealed._ Then she unceremoniously tipped over the chair, letting the mannequin topple onto the floor in a heap. Sitting down and crossing her legs, she rested her chin on one hand. It was a tauntingly feminine posture, and if Naruto were into the whole "trashy fishnet undershirt and crazy peacock haircut" look, he would have certainly found it alluring.

Naruto heaved himself onto the counter, sitting down and closing his eyes. After a moment of thought, he opened them.

"It started a few days ago—Tuesday afternoon. We were on our way back from a short C-rank mission..."

**~V~**

_**Tuesday – 2:14 PM – Four Days Before the Mission**_

The man working the booth at the front gate was obviously laboring under the delusion that wearing a bandage across the bridge of one's nose was somehow cool or intimidating. Naruto thought it just looked stupid. But then, who was he to judge? He had fucking whisker-marks on his cheeks...

Was this one Izumo, or Kotetsu? He was pretty sure it was Kotetsu, but he could never be sure. These two ninja, for as cocky and self-assured as their manner tended to be, always seemed to be assigned grunt-work. He knew they were at least Chunin-level, but he'd never seen nor heard any hint that they saw action on a regular basis, which suggested that their shinobi careers were pretty much bland and unremarkable. Naruto hoped fervently that his own ninja life would never stagnate to quite such a degree.

Team Seven had just returned from a brief C-rank mission that had taken all of four hours to accomplish. Most of those four hours consisted of journeying to and from their destination. Bandits usually steered clear of the shinobi villages—especially in the Five Great Nations, where the term "Hidden Village" was idiom for "we know we're awesome, so we're not bothering to hide, our city is RIGHT HERE OUT IN THE OPEN, and in fact, we'll even mark it on the maps you can purchase at any roadside tea-house!" Every so often, however, there would be a batch of complete morons who got a little big for their britches and decided that it _wasn't_ a bad idea to camp out near a thoroughfare into one of these shinobi villages in order to pillage ingoing and outgoing merchant caravans. That was the mission they had just returned from: laying the almighty smackdown on the latest batch of complete morons to attempt this cunning plan.

Well, at least it ensured that rookie Genin could achieve their first kills in environments of relative safety and security.

Kotetsu (_Or maybe Izumo? ...Whatever..._) was congratulating Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata on another job well done (and sounding as if he envied their freedom) as the three ANBU operatives approached with their prisoner.

Hinata's eyes were on the ground, and she again lightly bit at her lip in her discomfort. Naruto ignored Kotetsu's rehearsed praise, turning instead to regard the girl as she fidgeted with one foot, frowning a little more as she did.

"Hey, Hina-chan... you alright?" Naruto asked. Sasuke cast a sidelong look at the girl at this, and her head popped up.

"Y-yes, Naruto-kun, I'm fine," she said, with obviously forced cheer.

"You're a bad liar," Sasuke noted casually.

"Terrible, terrible liar," agreed Naruto, nodding firmly. "No talent for deception at all. Totally and completely hopeless as a ninja."

Hinata laughed softly, then sighed. "Alright, I guess there is something that's bothering me," she admitted. Clasping her hands behind her back, she looked up at the sky. "It's just that... well..."

"You're feeling guilty about that bandit woman you killed," Naruto guessed, and Hinata answered with a single nod, closing her eyes. Naruto imagined that behind those eyelids, she was again seeing the shocked, agonized look of the dying woman as she coughed up blood, clutching at her chest—for Hinata, in a state of panic as the woman bore down on her, had delivered one hard, swift _Jyuken _strike to her heart, literally blasting the organ apart with pure chakra.

Sasuke shrugged. "Don't let it get to you, Hinata. Every ninja kills someone eventually, and those bandits have already slaughtered a full merchant caravan, not to mention their mercenary guards. We probably saved more lives than we ended today."

"It's natural to feel some guilt or regret after your first kill," Kotetsu said, nudging his way into the conversation. "Heh, I remember the first time I killed a man—I cut out his entrails. First thing I did? Collapsed onto my hands and knees, hurling my _own _guts out. In the grand scheme of things, kid, you probably had it easy."

"Yeah, easy," Naruto deadpanned. "At least you didn't have to lay awake as some crazy bitch carved your neck open."

Hinata winced at the reminder of the incident that was now more than a month behind them, and realized that yes, all things considered, she _did _have it easy. "Still..." she whispered.

"Listen, Hina-chan, I know what you're feeling," Naruto said. "I felt pretty bad about it myself when I found out I'd—well, anyway, you'll get used to it."

"I'm not so sure I _want _to get used to it," Hinata said harshly. She clapped a hand over her mouth, then muttered, "I'm sorry." Naruto simply shrugged.

"I just meant you'll learn not to feel guilt about the deaths that couldn't be avoided," Naruto said. "Like this one. It's like Sasuke said, Hina-chan, those bandits were bad news. If we didn't take 'em down, they'd have hurt or killed more people. You saw how big their stash was, right? They may have picked the worst possible location for a bandit camp, but they were pretty... pretty..."

Naruto's eyes drifted away from Hinata and he spaced out for a second. His two friends looked on in puzzlement for a moment, before following his eyes to the spectacle that had drawn them:

Three shinobi in the customary animal-patterned masks of the ANBU Black Ops strode smoothly through the towering gateway into the Hidden Leaf Village, all three trailing from their hands thick ropes that were bound securely to a scuffed-up, ruffled, yet very beautiful woman who trudged along in their midst, eyes downcast. She wore what appeared at a glance to be an overly decorative civilian dress, and her face was done up rather heavily with lipstick, eyeliner, and eyeshadow.

"She... _is _pretty," Hinata said. It was almost a huff. Naruto blinked, glanced at Hinata, and nearly laughed at her expression as she watched the woman trudge by.

_She's jealous, _he realized. _She thinks I was ogling her._

He shook his head, choosing not to comment. Instead he said, "Who is that? Has she been arrested for something?"

Kotetsu replied, "I've heard she's a kunoichi from a foreign village who disguised herself as a street performer to gather intel on the Land of Fire."

At this point the woman's downcast eyes came to life, and she looked up, toward them, her eyes lighting up in... in recognition?

_Not us,_ Naruto thought, following her gaze. _She recognizes Kakashi-sensei..._

Kakashi was watching her as she passed, and it suddenly occurred to Naruto that their sensei hadn't bothered to offer his input on the subject of Hinata's first kill—_Almost as if he was distracted by something,_ Naruto mused. _Was he already watching the woman approach at that point?_

Hinata's jealous expression faded and grew anxious. "What's going to happen to her?" she asked.

At last, Kakashi spoke: "She'll be interrogated," he said evenly, "until she tells us how much she's found out."

Naruto watched Kakashi's face closely as he said this, but if there was any emotion behind the pronouncement, it didn't seep through. His eye never left the woman's retreating back, however.

"They'll use whatever means necessary," Kakashi added, in a slightly darker tone, "until she talks."

Hinata gave a little shiver, as if a goose had waddled over her grave. Sasuke's stoic demeanor seemed to flicker a bit, and even the more experienced Kotetsu frowned a little. Naruto, however, simply looked from Kakashi, to the woman, and back to Kakashi again.

He had a hunch that there was a story here...

**~V~**

**Author's Note:** For those unfamiliar with the filler arcs of _Naruto Shippuden_, this is the beginning of episode #191, part of the "Leaf's History" filler series that follows the Pain arc. Just so we're clear: this particular story arc is not one of my own creation, but is taken from the anime. Obviously it will play out a bit differently, but you get the point.

The Day/Time stamps throughout the next few chapters won't become a regular thing throughout the story. They're simply here because I don't feel like writing eighty percent of this story arc in flashback italics.


	16. XV: Just 'Something'

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is a _Shonen Jump _publication written by Masashi Kishimoto. I am neither _Shonen Jump_ nor Masashi Kishimoto. If that doesn't say it all, I pity you for your lack of perceptive prowess, and strongly advise that you _not _pursue the way of the ninja.

**~V~**

**- Chapter Fifteen -  
>"Just 'Something'"<strong>

**~V~**

_**Tuesday – 6:13 PM – Four Days Before the Mission**_

Hiruzen Sarutobi's hands were clasped behind his back as he strode slowly down the halls of the Hokage Tower. A scar-faced man in black walked alongside him: Ibiki Morino, his mutilated scalp concealed from view by his black bandanna and _hitai-ate_. As the head of Torture and Interrogation finished his brief report, Sarutobi couldn't help but allow himself a respectful nod before he replied.

"She's well-trained, to have resisted _your _torture," said the Third Lord.

"With not a single moan," Ibiki added. "Only the sound of her gritting her teeth against the pain."

As they progressed down the gently-curving hallway, another of Konoha's elite walked into view: Kakashi Hatake, his hands in his pockets, heading in the opposite direction. As Kakashi passed, he offered a respectful bow to the village's ruler.

"What an impressive kunoichi!" the old man said. "Well, then... we'll have to reach into that silence, and find her inner voice."

"I understand," said Ibiki. "Then please, summon Inoichi."

Kakashi, who had taken several steps forward, stopped. It wasn't a sudden stop, or even a mildly distressed one; to the casual observer, it would have seemed that the Hokage's statement had simply caught hold of his curiosity. His head turned 'round, and his exposed eye followed the two for a long moment before he began walking again.

**~V~**

_**Tuesday – 7:01 PM – The Ichiraku Noodle Bar**_

Sometimes, Naruto would slurp down bowls and bowls of ramen at top speed, pigging out so hard and so fast that even Hinata couldn't find it in herself not to be disgusted. Sometimes, he would eat at a more acceptable pace—where he was merely "pigging out" and she could see it as more amusing than disgusting. And sometimes he would just slurp up his ramen at what a normal person would consider a "fast" eating pace. Most of the time, he would eat three or four bowls unless he couldn't afford it, and since they'd begun taking on C-ranked missions, nobody on Team Seven was having problems paying for dinner.

When Naruto was eating _slowly_, it was a sure sign that he was thinking about something.

"Um... Naruto-kun?" Hinata said.

"Hm?" Naruto mumbled through a curtain of ramen.

"I-is something on your mind?"

Naruto slurped up his noodles and shrugged. "Yeah, a few things."

"Is something _wrong_?"

"Huh? Oh—no, no, nothing's wrong, just thinking about stuff."

Sasuke, who had for once finished his bowl before Naruto, grunted his usual "Hn," then said: "You'd be on your third bowl by now if nothing was wrong."

Naruto scratched at his whisker-marks. "Heh, well, nothing's _wrong_, per se. I just have this weird feeling about that foreign kunoichi we saw at the gate earlier, the one they'd arrested. Like, there's something _off _about her. I just can't put my finger on it, is all. And besides..."

Hinata frowned. "'Besides' what?"

_There's that jealous little huff of hers again,_ Naruto mused. _You know what? She's almost as cute when she's jealous as she is when she's embarrassed..._

Slurping up another mouthful of pork-and-miso ramen, he heaved a contented sigh and said, "Did either of you see the way she was looking at Kakashi-sensei?"

"Huh? ...No, I d-didn't..." Hinata mumbled, blushing. _Of course I didn't!_ she thought, _I was looking at you..._

All Sasuke said was: "Why?"

"I think they know each other," Naruto replied, and then guided another curtain of noodles to his mouth.

"Hn... I thought I saw _something_ there..." Sasuke murmured. "So what do you think's up with that, Naruto?"

"Past mission, maybe? I dunno, it didn't look like either of them was alarmed, like some big 'You!' moment or anything. Looked more like she was... I dunno... a little bit happy to see him?"

"You think so?" Sasuke said, sounding skeptical. "I couldn't tell _what _was going on in her head."

"S-so, um, what about Kakashi-sensei?" Hinata asked.

"No read on him whatsoever," Naruto said with a shrug. "Not a hint of emotion or recognition on his face at all. If he hadn't been staring directly at her, I would've guessed she was invisible to him. On that note... what do you guys think sensei looks like behind that mask?"

And with that abrupt change of topic, the rest of the night was spent plotting ways to glimpse their sensei's true face. Naruto only finished a single bowl of ramen, however.

**~V~**

_**Tuesday – 8:34 PM – The Honesty Room**_

Hanare's breath came in small, shallow sighs. It had been, maybe, an hour or more since her tormentor had relented and left her alone in this room, hands bound behind her back as she lay on her side. She'd lain curled-up and twitching in the closest thing to a fetal position she could manage for at least half of it—now she was just limp, dazed, and in that emotional place where her relief at the lack of agony was only overshadow by her knowledge that it would start again soon enough.

Hanare had an almost inhumanly high tolerance for pain—that had been a key focus of her training, after all. In actuality, she could take much more physical punishment than the scar-faced man had dished out, but the man himself... he was a monster. A beast. No, not even a beast. A beast was a snarling, ravenous thing. That scar-faced man was a demon, a devil. He was sadistic, but refined about it. Hanare had never in her life been so terrified of a fellow human being before. Dimly, she wondered how her resistance had held up at all...

As she wondered this, she realized something that puzzled her. Closing her eyes, she slowly flexed her fingers. Then, she opened her mouth and closed it again. Wiggled her legs just a little. Took a long, deep breath, feeling her own chest expand and contract. It took more effort than she felt like she had in her, but she managed it.

_No lasting damage at all,_ Hanare realized. _Now that I think about it, there are a lot of grizzly things in this room. He didn't make use of even half of it..._

It was the truth: there had been spiked chains, a restraining chair with a number of horrifying instruments affixed to it that Hanare didn't even want to think about, one of those vise-contraptions designed to slowly (oh, so slowly...) squeeze and squeeze at your skull until you couldn't think straight (and eventually wouldn't be able to think, or live, at all). There was an iron maiden (curiously, designed to resemble an _engimono _statue), and there was one of those ghastly devices that would pull and pull at your limbs from two directions, stretching and stretching and stretching until you couldn't stretch anymore...

Hanare couldn't even muster the energy to blink, but her mind was as sharp as ever.

_This room is a mind-game,_ she thought. _Everything seems to hurt more in here. And you know what? Even if I know that, it's still going to hurt more than it should. Because that man is a devil. A demon. A monster._

Her shallow breathing had steadied a bit more—perhaps that one deep breath had helped. She felt tired now. So tired...

_They look like clouds,_ her mind mused hazily.

What? What looked like clouds? Forcing her eyes into clearer focus, straining to bring her attention back to the moment, she saw on the ground before her face small, faded splotches of her own blood.

_They do look like clouds,_ she agreed. _Just like the clouds on that day..._

Her consciousness phased out again, and she thought of the masked man with the silver hair, whom she'd seen at the front gate of the village.

_It was him. There's no mistake. I'd know that face anywhere..._

She could have dwelled on it for three seconds or three hours; time was funny when you were in a torture-induced stupor. The next thing she knew, she was squinting against outside light as the door to the "Honesty Room" opened with a rusty creak. She'd become so used to the silence that even this noise struck her as deafening, but she had not the life in her to give a start.

That man—that man, with the scars, that terrifying man—was standing there, and next to him was another man. Hanare focused on him instead. He was blonde-haired, and although his expression was hard and his face a strong one, Hanare thought he looked like a shining saint next to the demon at his side—

"We're done with the pain," the scar-faced devil said. "It's time for a more humane approach."

Hanare knew she shouldn't show her emotions at this pronouncement—it could jeopardize her mission, after all—but the thought of no longer having to suffer the company of _that man_ coupled with the knowledge that all was going according to plan...

It was fortunate that she had not the life in her for a true smirk. The significance of the weak twitch at the corner of her mouth was thus lost on her captors.

**~V~**

_**Wednesday – 9:46 AM – Three Days Before the Mission**_

"Eh? Memories as me as a kid?" Kakashi echoed.

The question was a perplexed, skeptical one, and Inoichi Yamanaka had no reason to think that Kakashi was acting. He'd known Kakashi for years, after all. What could the infamous Copycat Ninja of the Hidden Leaf, who so valued teamwork and mutual trust between comrades, possibly have to hide from him? Besides, he was too suspicious of the kunoichi on the other side of the one-way mirror they now stood before to spare any mistrust for the man next to him.

The kunoichi that ANBU had apprehended—the one who'd disguised herself as a street performer—sat alone at a table in a standard interrogation room. Her eyes were downcast and glazed over, but Inoichi knew that her vulnerable appearance belied her fortitude. The woman had displayed such admirable tolerance for pain that Ibiki Morino had seen fit to declare physical torture a lost cause before even moving on to the heavy-duty punishment—and when a professional of Ibiki's caliber said it couldn't be done, it _couldn't be done_. Simple as that.

Thus had Inoichi been called in. The fabled ability to delve into the mind and memories of an individual, sifting through the sights and sounds they'd experienced throughout their lives: very few within the village had mastered the art, and none were as accomplished at it as Inoichi Yamanaka, whose clan also specialized in various other techniques designed to invade or hijack an opponent's mind.

It wasn't by any means a perfect technique. For one thing, the individual whose mind was to be probed needed to be both restrained and conscious. Memories that were blocked or forgotten would take time for the reader to probe. Any number of things could go wrong with such a technique. Simply put, getting a captive shinobi to talk voluntarily was always simpler, less risky.

What bothered Inoichi was that nothing had in fact gone wrong with the mind-reading technique this time. With a full support crew and the subject restrained within a mind-probe amplification apparatus, and Inoichi himself at the helm, how could it? The kunoichi's memories had been as scrolls to be unrolled and perused at his leisure. And yet he had found very little of consequence within this woman's mind.

He had confirmed that the kunoichi's name was Hanare, that she was a ninja of Jomae Village—the Hidden Lock Village, in the Land of Keys. Her mission had been to gather intelligence on the Hidden Leaf Village, but ANBU had apprehended her before she could infiltrate. At this point, Hanare should have been ruled out as a threat, but something about the woman just... _irked_ Inoichi.

For one thing, she had absolutely no memories of her own village, nor any information regarding its whereabouts or the state of affairs within. Had the Hidden Lock Ninja found a way to completely purge information from the minds of their shinobi? Even mental blocks weren't impervious to Inoichi's technique, after all... no matter how sturdy the barrier, if it was in there, Inoichi could draw it out.

And then there was that strange feeling that he was being _watched _while he'd probed her memories...

There had been only one memory that stood out, the only clue amongst all the sights and sounds that Inoichi had succeeded to coax from the kunoichi's mind: a memory of a very distinctive young Leaf ninja with a black face mask, a cock-eyed _hitai-ate _which concealed his left eye, and a shock of silver hair. For Inoichi, who had known Kakashi Hatake since he was boy, there could be no mistake.

"Yeah," Inoichi said. "Do you remember anything?"

"No," Kakashi replied. "I've never met her before."

"I see," sighed Inoichi. As they watched, the woman on the other side of the one-way mirror looked up. Her hair hung low over her left eye, leaving only her right visible. This eye rolled up in its socket to stare directly at them through the one-way mirror, though both shinobi knew she couldn't actually see—or hear—what was happening on their side of the glass.

"Have you learned anything else?" Kakashi asked.

"Nothing of worth," Inoichi said dismissively. "She had no knowledge of the Lock Village. She probably purged it..."

"Purged?" Kakashi echoed. _Is that even possible?_

"But something is bothering me," Inoichi said. "Just... something. Part of it is the fact that she had memories of you, but I can't shake the feeling that she's hiding something. Something that even _I _can't dig up." Inoichi cast a sidelong glance at the masked Jonin. "And that, Kakashi, is what I want _you _to find out."

"Huh? Me? But I'm not even with the Intelligence Division."

"With your Sharingan," Inoichi said, "you may be able to see further into her psyche... catch sight of something, some sign, that we've missed."

Kakashi said nothing, regarding the woman on the other side of the one-way mirror with an impassive eye as he deliberated Inoichi's request.

**~V~**

_**Wednesday – 10:13 AM – Waiting for Kakashi (Again)**_

Naruto yawned widely, checked his watch, and then returned to his book. Hinata was staring at the clouds, or rather, through the clouds. Sasuke was just leaning against the bridge railing, bored as hell but determined to be cool about it. And Kakashi-sensei? Why, that's easy!

"Three-and-a-half hours late," muttered Naruto. "A new record..."

Hinata's only answer was an indistinct, zoned-out moan of acknowledgment: "Hmmm..."

Sasuke finally gave up his statue act, cracking his neck rather loudly and looking around with an expression of intense irritation on his face.

"Yo!"

All three heads snapped up to the wire Kakashi was balancing on.

"Sorry I'm late, guys—"

"Don't even start," grumbled Naruto. "Let's just go pick up a goddamn mission already. Three-and-a-half hours is the limit of my patience for bullshit."

"Ah, yes, about that—I'm giving you all the day off!"

Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke stared back for several seconds before Naruto burst out, "You made us wait three-and-a-half hours to tell us _that?_"

Kakashi scratched at the back of his head. "Well, something unexpected came up. I have a solo mission to take care of today."

"A solo mission?" Hinata asked. "What kind of mission? Why aren't we going with you?"

"It's just an escort mission," Kakashi said. "Shouldn't take longer than a day, so I'll see you all tomorrow at the usual time—"

"—you mean an _hour_ late, rather than three-and-a-half?" Naruto cut in through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, that," said Kakashi distractedly. "Anyway, see you guys later. People to go and places to do..." Then he blinked, stroked his chin, and muttered, "That _so _came out wrong."

One hand-sign later, and Kakashi was gone in a blink. The three Genin he had left behind could only fume, shout, and stutter in vain at the empty space where he'd been a moment before.

**~V~**

**Author's Note:** I'm not sure why, but I'm having a lot of trouble writing this arc... and it doesn't help that only two of the above scenes aren't rewrites of scenes from the episode this is based on. Fortunately, this should be the only chapter I _ever _have to write that's so heavy on "direct from the anime" material. I considered skipping over that stuff, but since the Hanare episode is a bit more obscure than, say, the Wave mission, I didn't want to leave any of my readers in the dark about what was going on in the background.

I'm not terribly happy with this chapter, but I can't think of how to do it better, so let me know if you have any thoughts. I may touch it up at a later date.


	17. XVI: Kakashi and Hanare

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is a _Shonen Jump _publication written by Masashi Kishimoto. I am neither _Shonen Jump_ nor Masashi Kishimoto. If that doesn't say it all, I pity you for your lack of perceptive prowess, and strongly advise that you _not _pursue the way of the ninja.

**~V~**

**- Chapter Sixteen -  
>"Kakashi and Hanare"<strong>

**~V~**

_**Wednesday – 10:24 PM – Ichiraku's Noodle Bar**_

"Seriously, _what the fuck?_" Naruto demanded, almost at the top of his lungs, after slurping down his forth bowl in record time. "Three. And. A. Half! …_Hours!_ And we blew it _all_ waiting for Kakashi-sensei's lazy ass when we could have been doing something _productive _with our time, like playing hide-and-seek with Konohomaru or painting the First Hokage a shiny, new monocle! I want three-and-a-half hours of my life back. _Now._ Old man, do you have three-and-a-half hours of life to spare? You can totally put it on my tab if you do!"

"Sorry. No can do, kid," Teuchi said in a long-suffering voice (having listened to Naruto rant for a good five minutes now). "I'm good for another bowl of pork-and-miso if you're up for it, though."

"Nah, I'm cool," Naruto said. "I just needed something to tide me over."

Hinata was currently massaging her temples in irritation. She was quite a bit calmer than Naruto about it, but she was no more enamored with their sensei than he was at the moment. Sasuke was back to his usual brooding self, but privately he agreed with his teammate's ramblings.

"So, what now?" Naruto sighed. "Do we just go out and train anyway?"

"I don't have medical training until later in the afternoon," Hinata said, "and I'd like to save my chakra for that. It's really tiring when you're just getting into it."

"Why _did _you decide to get into medical ninjutsu, anyway?" Sasuke asked.

"Oh—well—" Hinata faltered, cheeks turning a bit pink, "that is—um... I just want to be able to support the team, that's al—_eek!_"

Hinata jumped in her seat, for Naruto had once again poked that particularly ticklish part of her torso.

"'Well, that is, um'... you wouldn't be so flippin' bashful if that was all there was to it," he said. "So spill. Why _did_ you decide to get into healing?"

"I just—well—" Hinata muttered, pressing her fingers together. "Well... back when... um... at the hospital..."

"Back when I almost got killed?" Naruto supplied. Hinata gulped, and nodded. Hanging her head, she continued sadly, but steadily:

"I just never want to feel so useless ever again."

"...I gotcha," Naruto said, scratching at his whisker-marks. "Sorry for pushing it."

"That's okay," Hinata said brightly, instantly cheering up. "You can just treat us this time, and we'll call it even!"

Naruto sighed, muttered "Fine," and answered Sasuke's chuckle with a look of daggers. But at this moment, Ayame gave a small start, pointed through the gap in the banners, and said:

"Isn't that your sensei?"

**~V~**

_**Wednesday – 10:19 AM – A Few Minutes Earlier**_

"Are you some kind of fool?" Hanare said coolly. "You're showing me around the very village I infiltrated for espionage."

"You won't find anything in Konoha that you wouldn't see in any other village," replied Kakashi. "I just thought you could use some fresh air, after being cooped up in that stuffy place for so long."

Hanare frowned, and continued to walk. For a time she held her cold, stoic facade in place, but eventually found her eyes drifting to the left, and then to the right. Then up, then left... and she kept walking, taking in everything that transpired around her.

Over there: a father, carrying his toddler on his shoulders, the child laughing all the way. Over here: a couple in love, walking not hand-in-hand but arm-in-arm. A short ways ahead: two teenage girls gossiping happily as they stepped out of a shop. Behind them: a young boy darting across the street—long, blue scarf trailing in his wake—followed swiftly by a bespectacled boy and a little girl.

Each sight stirred a little something more within her, and soon she found herself seeking them out almost hungrily...

**~V~**

_**Wednesday – 10:26 AM – Around the Corner**_

"'Escort mission' he says," Naruto muttered. "...'Escort mission,' my _ass_."

The three Genin of Team Seven peeked out at the pair from around the corner of a narrow side-street not far up the road from where Kakashi now walked with a very pretty lady. Sasuke's sole response to the situation was a scowl. Hinata, on the other hand, was transfixed. Her cheeks bore a pink tinge and she seemed torn between a pout and a smile.

"Naruto-kun, isn't that—?"

"The woman they dragged in yesterday? Looks like it."

None of them had recognized her at first, for her appearance at the moment was a good deal more casual than when they'd first seen her. The showy ensemble of a street performer had been replaced by an ordinary dress, no different than what any civilian woman might wear around town. The lack of make-up was especially jarring, and her hair no longer covered her left eye as it had when they'd first seen her.

_And then there's her expression..._ Naruto thought.

For as the woman neared their position (the three shrank back a bit to avoid detection), Naruto found himself watching her face as she turned her head to and fro, taking in the sights. Except there weren't really any "sights" on this street at all, just buildings and people. It was hard to tell from here exactly which of the two so interested her, but she seemed...

What was that expression? It was happy, that was part of it. But there was something else there. Some kind of... _What is it?_ ...contentment? _No, that's not quite right..._ Longing, perhaps? _Looks like a little of Column A and a bit of Column B..._

As the three looked on, Kakashi, who strode a short ways ahead of the woman, turned easily around and looked at her. The three couldn't see his face, or the look he was giving her, but whatever it was, when her eyes snapped back to Kakashi, she almost immediately averted them. An obvious blush colored her cheeks as she did.

"They're coming this way," Sasuke said blandly, pointing out the obvious.

So when Kakashi and Hanare made their way up the street and past the place where the three Genin had hidden, the kids had withdrawn into a nearby shop, emerging only when their sensei had left the side-street behind him.

"Well, _my_ curiosity's been piqued," Naruto said jovially. "I say we tail them."

"T-tail? Naruto-kun, are you suggesting we eavesdrop?" Hinata squeaked.

Naruto smirked. "What? You're not curious?"

"U-um... well... of course I am! But—"

"Right, of course you are!" Naruto agreed, and suddenly Hinata was practically being dragged down the street by the hand. "Then it's settled! Let's go, team! Commence Operation: Stalk the Lazy-Ass Porn Addict!"

"W-wait up!" Sasuke stammered, jogging to catch up. As the three put their stealth training to the test, the Uchiha prodigy wondered vaguely why he was participating in something so ridiculous.

_Feh. It's not like I have anything better to do with my time..._

**~V~**

_**Wednesday - 11:02 AM – Sunset Park**_

It was a popular place for first dates, although in truth even Kakashi didn't know this (not having properly dated a woman in his life). Most of the time, though, such dates happened at sunset: the sprawling park on the west side of Konoha, while making for a soothing nature-walk on its own, provided a fantastic vista on which to enjoy the spectacle of dusk hours. At night, as well, one might occasionally find a couple out stargazing, or a parent introducing their child to that wonderful invention called a "telescope." Today, in the hour before noon, it was simply a peaceful place with some lush greenery and a calm, blue sky looking down on it.

As Kakashi and Hanare approached the stairway to the most popular corner of this park—known unofficially as "The Vista," being the highest and largest of the park's walkways—the masked Jonin slowed to stop beneath a tall tree. Hanare, seeing this, also came to an uneasy halt, some ten yards or so behind him.

Kakashi turned easily around, casting an exasperated eye on the kunoichi, and said, "It's not like I'm trying to get information out of you. From what they tell me, that ship's already sailed."

Almost in spite of herself, Hanare had to fight back an amused grin. Giving in, she let her feet carry her closer to him. As she settled into place next to him, Kakashi looked up at the clouds.

"I was just asked to spend the day with you," Kakashi said mildly. "Once the day's up, my duty will be done."

Hanare felt a bit numb at the pronouncement, but didn't let it show. Instead she asked, "What will happen to me?"

"Who knows?" sighed Kakashi. The two stood in silence for a bit, watching the clouds drift on by.

"That cloud," Kakashi said at last, "it kind of looks like Minato-sensei..."

Hanare glanced at the man, but couldn't see his one exposed eye from her place at his left side, so she let her own return to the clouds.

"That one next to it—Sasuke, maybe?" Kakashi added, tilting his head to one side and squinting. "Yeah, definitely Sasuke. Either that or a duck's backside. Could be one or the other."

The three Genin crouched hidden behind the low wall, just beneath the railing of the walkway on which Kakashi and Hanare stood. At this last pronouncement, they all glanced up. Sasuke scowled, and Hinata stifled a giggle with the palm of her hand. Naruto whispered, "Come to think of it, Sasuke, your head _does _kind of look like a duck's ass."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed dangerously at the red-haired boy, but Naruto only grinned one of his foxy grins and placed a finger over his lips, reminding his friends to be quiet as they heard Hanare begin to speak.

"I see... my mother and father, who gave me life," Hanare said at last, "although I've never met them."

Kakashi turned his head to look at her, and beneath the railing behind them, a certain red-haired boy's mirth began to fade.

"When things got hard," she went on, "when I was sad... I always looked up at the clouds. I'd stare at the clouds and imagine. Life in the village, and my parents who supposedly live there... I couldn't have endured otherwise, not knowing who my parents were, about my village... or my fate of being born simply to become a spy. I don't know anything about my village. I was raised outside its walls, so that I couldn't divulge any information if I was captured."

Kakashi's mask hid his slight frown. _So that's what it was, _he thought. _She didn't "purge" anything; there was never any information there to begin with._

"And to this day, I've risked my life," she continued, "to complete missions for a homeland I've never seen. That's why it meant everything to me... to have a home, to have people who would accept me."

**~V~**

Beneath the railing, some small part of Hinata's heart went out to the woman. It wasn't as though she completely understood everything that Hanare was feeling. Not by any means—Hinata had known at least one of her parents, though she'd been too young at the time to remember much of Hiashi Hyuga now. And she definitely knew, and loved, her village. Maybe that was part of it—Hinata couldn't even imagine what life would be like if she'd been raised to be a ninja for a village she couldn't even begin to appreciate the way she loved Konoha now.

But the real points on which she felt that she and this kunoichi could relate were their fates. Unconsciously, Hinata reached up and brushed a hand over her _hitai-ate_, and the curse seal concealed beneath it. She had been born a member of the Cadet Branch. Her fate was to serve as a subservient underling of the Hyuga Clan, her duty was to protect its main household and the secrets of its _kekkei genkai _bloodline inheritance with her very life. If she did not wish to do so, she would have to suck it up and deal with it. There had never been any choice in the matter; the moment she'd been born into the family, she had been placed by fate at the mercy of the clan and its age-old traditions.

Was it the same for this woman?

Hinata listened to the woman talk, biting her lower lip. After a moment, she turned to look at Sasuke, who was looking past her toward Naruto with an incredulous look on his face—

—and she looked at Naruto. His finger was again over his lips, and he gestured to his friends to stay right where they were. Then he pointed to himself, then to the place where their sensei stood, and snuck away along the wall, toward the part of the walkway known to its regulars as "The Vista."

Hinata had to stop herself from calling out in protest. Instead she settled for her own incredulous expression and a silent question directed at the heavens:

_Naruto-kun, what are you thinking?_

**~V~**

_I need to speak to that woman._

This was what Naruto was thinking. And like Hinata, he'd found that he could relate to Hanare on a very basic level, but not nearly in the same way.

—_to have a home—_

Naruto stepped lightly, but quickly, edging along the wall toward the Vista, and once there, he climbed straight up the sheer face of it, peeking once over the edge to ensure there was no one there before heaving himself up beneath the railing. Putting his hands in his pockets and assuming a casual stance, he turned toward the stairs and walked back toward his sensei and the kunoichi he'd been assigned to accompany.

—_to have people who would accept me—_

It was weird, he thought. The reason for it wasn't nearly the same, but at the end of the day, weren't results all that mattered? Naruto had been dealt an incredibly shitty hand in life, cursed with the burden of carrying this demon inside of him that the villagers around him so feared and despised that they projected all of that fear and hate onto the vessel itself. He'd lived within the walls of his village all his life, and for the better part of it, he could never have thought of the place as his "home." And he'd had parents once (_Biology dictates as much, anyway, _he thought), but fate had stolen that from him as well. His eyes drifted toward the looming stone faces in the distance, and toward one in particular which so resembled his own.

They hovered there for a moment, and he again asked himself the question he'd been reluctant to ask of the Hokage. Pushing the thought again to the back of his mind, he focused again on the kunoichi spy.

It was different for her. Fate had taken her from her village and her parents. For all any of them knew, both could have accepted and loved her given the chance. Was it one of those shitty shinobi traditions in her village, like that fucking Hyuga curse seal that Hinata was stuck with? It seemed so. But the result was the same, and Naruto felt like slapping himself for not recognizing Hanare's expression earlier.

_How could you _not_ recognize it, dumbass? You've worn it yourself in the past, so many times._

He remembered the times when he was younger, when he'd lain in hiding at the local playground, watching as parents came to fetch their children—the affectionate mothers and fathers, the merriment of the children, who sometimes drank in their parents' attentions as a calf does its mother's milk, or sometimes pretended to reject it, in that "Gosh, dad, stop, you're embarrassing me" kind of way. He'd observed because he'd wanted to see for himself the kind of life he was missing; he'd hidden because he didn't want that vision tainted by the sound of parents reminding their children that they'd been told not to play with that red-haired boy. Watching these scenes had been bittersweet, tugging at his heartstrings in ways that left him both happy and sad at the same time.

His urge to speak to the woman now was intense, random, and irresistible. He had to let her know, somehow, that she was being acknowledged. He had to. Because if he were in her shoes right now, he knew that this was what he himself would want most.

Somewhere in his mind, he was reluctant to interrupt her time with Kakashi, but this was his only real chance. Inside of a few hours, the woman would be back in her cell and beyond Naruto's reach.

He approached from their right side, which was the side on which Kakashi's good eye could see him. He didn't want to seem like he was intentionally following them, after all. Hopefully, Kakashi was enough at ease within the walls of the village that he'd accept the idea that Naruto was just taking a walk in the park by sheer coincidence.

**~V~**

"You've remained silent all this time," Kakashi said. "Why tell _me_?"

Hanare fell silent for a moment, eyes drifting away from the clouds. "You taught me," she said simply.

Kakashi's one eye turned to look at the woman, and she smiled softly back.

"I knew, the moment I saw you," she said. "You were the boy, from back then. Do you remember?"

Kakashi's face registered no surprise, but neither did he answer.

"I was lonely," Hanare said. "I wanted to see my parents. I snuck away from my caretaker, and set out for the village—but I had no idea where it was. So of course, I got lost. I felt so helpless."

Kakashi did remember, of course. He'd found her, carried her on his back—

"You told me to look at the clouds whenever I'm feeling lonely," she said, "because clouds change their form, so you can envision the things you wish for. You said that as long as you don't lose hope, the clouds will always answer your call."

Beneath the railing, Hinata couldn't suppress a smile which she imagined must look incredibly foolish. She couldn't even quite imagine Naruto saying something so adorably sentimental. The idea that such a side to Kakashi-sensei existed... made her feel _bubbly._ Like if she had a close kunoichi friend somewhere out there, the first thing she would do after this would have been to rush out and add this tidbit to the gossip chain. Suddenly, the usual antics of her kunoichi classmates seemed a tiny bit less ludicrous.

To her left, Sasuke had one of those expressions on his face that made it clear how different his opinion was from Hinata's.

Hanare looked back up, toward the sky. "I always looked for your likeness in the clouds, you know," she said. "So I recognized you immediately, even though you've changed quite a bit—because you were always in my heart. You were my hope..."

She looked down at the ground, feeling her cheeks heat up as she said this. Several seconds passed. Then from her right side, Kakashi said: "Naruto?"

She looked up, and walking up to them—or rather, along the walkway they happened to be on—was a red-haired boy of perhaps twelve or thirteen years, who seemed mildly surprised to see them there. He had that dazed look about him, as if he'd only just been snapped out of a reverie.

"Kakashi-sensei? What are you doing here?" he said in an almost sour tone. Then the boy's eyes met Hanare's, and he muttered something under his breath that Hanare just barely caught. His expression was a mixture of annoyance and good humor.

"'Escort mission.' Right..."

**~V~**

As Naruto approached he wore a glazed look on his face, as if he was lost to his own thoughts. He only altered this expression as he neared Kakashi and Hanare, acting as though he'd only just then noticed their presence. He decided, tactfully, to pretend he hadn't heard the end of Hanare's confession, supposing that he could have opted to time his intrusion a little better.

Kakashi, seeing Naruto's approach from the corner of his eye, looked up. The woman next to him, however, seemed not to notice him.

Naruto blinked. _Huh. Weird..._

"Naruto?" Kakashi said, and the woman's eyes snapped up, regarding the red-haired boy with mild surprise.

_Weird..._ Naruto thought again. _You'd think I snuck up from her blind spot, or something._

"Kakashi-sensei? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked. His surprise sounded quite natural, too—if Naruto was good at anything, it was pretending to be more oblivious than he actually was. He let his eyes meet the woman's directly for the first time, and feeling that a touch of genuine "Naruto" was called for to make his act complete, he muttered, "'Escort mission.' Right..."

He cast an amused, exasperated look at his sensei. "You know, if you wanted to skip missions for the day so you could spend time with your girlfriend, you could have just said so."

"What are _you_ doing here?" Kakashi replied.

"Walking. Thinking. Spacing out. Contemplating the merits of murdering my sensei in his sleep for making us wait three-and-a-half hours this morning. That sort of thing."

Naruto turned his eyes back to Hanare, who was blushing a little more now, probably at the suggestion that Kakashi was playing hooky to go on a date with her. "Don't think I've seen you around before. Have I? Now that I think of it, you look a little familiar."

Hanare opened her mouth to say something, but the red-haired boy just shrugged and said, "Whatever. Any friend of sensei's is a friend of mine. Was he at least on time for _you,_ miss...?"

"Hanare," the woman said, almost giggling. "And yes, I suppose he was."

"Kakashi-sensei... punctual?" Naruto said skeptically, quirking his head to one side. He seemed to be weighing the words on both hands, looking back and forth between the two as if he couldn't imagine them to be even distantly related.

"Very funny," Kakashi said. "Shouldn't you be with Sasuke and Hinata?"

"Sasuke's in one of his emo moods today," Naruto said. "I don't even want to go _near _that right now." (Beneath the railing, Sasuke quietly sulked, and Hinata stifled another giggle.) "And Hina-chan said something about having a talk with her grandfather, who I also don't want to go near right now—never mind that half her clan couldn't stop trying to _murder_ me with their eyes the last time I set foot in their oh-so-sacred compound."

Naruto smiled at Hanare and said, "But far be it from me to intrude on two lovers sharing a tender moment. I'll just be on my way. But you know what, Hanare? Let's have lunch, sometime. Me and my friends can tell you the story of how the three of us met our sensei... and how we outsmarted him in one of the most stupidly awkward ways imaginable." Naruto winked. "You won't be hearing that story from _him, _trust me."

For the first time that day—really, for the first time in living memory—Hanare giggled... mostly at the mortified look of _You wouldn't!_ on Kakashi's face. When the giggles subsided, she smiled back at Naruto and said, a little sadly, "I might just take you up on that, Naruto-kun."

She knew she'd never have a chance to do so, one way or another, but—

Naruto suddenly did something totally random and unexpected: he snapped his fingers right in Hanare's face—once in front of her right eye, and then in front of her left. Hanare blinked exactly one time at the second snap.

"Naruto, what—?" Kakashi started to ask.

"Nothing, nothing, you just looked a bit spacey, is all," Naruto said to Hanare, who was now looking utterly nonplussed. Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "I'll get going. I'm trying to noodle out a new Jutsu anyw—oh!" Naruto slapped himself on the forehead. "Sensei, I wanted to ask you earlier... can you, um, get me one of those little slips of paper that you check your elemental affinity with? When you have the time? I'm not sure where to get them, and, well, you know... me and the local ninja-tool shops don't get along very well."

"Huh? I could do that, but you probably won't be able to do anything with it until you're older. Most ninja don't develop their chakra well enough to make use of nature manipulation until adulthood or their late teens—"

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto said. "But you know me: always thinking ten steps ahead. I just want to see what sort of techniques I might be able to learn down the line, so I know what direction to take my training in. Anyway, I won't keep you two any longer. Have fun—but for land's sake, _use protection!_"

Cackling, Naruto sped off, vaulting over the rails on the far side of the walkway, and was gone.

"Ugh..." Kakashi groaned. "He just _had_ to get the last word in, didn't he?"

Hanare glanced at Kakashi as she absorbed Naruto's parting jab, blushed, and looked away. But she had to admit, the images her mind had just conjured weren't exactly unpleasant.

**~V~**

_**Wednesday – 12:31 PM – Leaf Cafeteria**_

"Naruto-kun, you're so mean," Hinata giggled when the three finally regrouped outside the Leaf Cafeteria for lunch. "Now we're going to _have_ to tell Hanare about the bell test."

"Call it an act of protest against our sensei's chronic lack of punctuality," Naruto said mildly, but Hinata's good cheer faded at the troubled look on his face.

Sasuke spoke up first. "Something up?"

"Yes. No. Maybe," Naruto said distractedly. "I dunno. Lemme think."

Hinata and Sasuke glanced at each other. Both recognized that look: it was the look Naruto got on his face when he was trying to figure something out, but couldn't for the life of him find that one crucial thing that was missing. Usually, though, he'd share these things with the two of them.

"Naruto-kun—" Hinata began.

"Lemme think, Hina-chan, lemme think," Naruto said. "I think I've got something important here, but it's like I have this octagonal peg in my hand and all the holes in sight are triangles. Need to find the right one..."

Naruto lapsed into silence and didn't speak again until they'd finished their lunch. When Sasuke attempted to ask what he was trying to figure out, Naruto answered earnestly that he didn't know. Then, after lunch, he excused himself, saying he needed some time alone to think.

Sasuke and Hinata had no idea what to make of it, and Naruto was reluctant to tell them simply because he was still trying to convince himself that he was being paranoid.

_But she could definitely see out of that same eye yesterday,_ his memory insisted. _Her hair was covering the other one..._

But her right eye was now apparently blind to the world. She hadn't seen his approach, and when he'd snapped his fingers in front of her eyes—

_Reflex only kicked in for the left eye. The right didn't react at all._

Naruto, now walking down a random street on his own, scratched at the back of his head in frustration, for once not even noticing the icy looks being sent his way by passing villagers.

It was no good. At this rate, he'd never figure _anything_ out. He needed to find that octagon-shaped hole before he could do anything with this random peg he'd picked up. He needed...

_Context. I need context._

Naruto, in a sudden burst of inspiration, twirled around and strode the other way, now carrying himself with purpose.

His destination: the Hokage Tower.

**~V~**

**Author's Note:** Detective Naruto Uzumaki is on the job! Where will this go from here? Find out next time... assuming this case of Writer's Block lets up so I can finish this arc sometime this century. I really felt like I was wading through a tar-pit with this chapter.

I was tempted to pick up _It's Like D__éjà Vu All Over Again_ for a bit instead, but ironically, the story I came up with to use as Writer's Block filler material is giving me more trouble than this one right now! Funny how that works...


	18. XVII: Secrets Within Secrets

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is a _Shonen Jump _publication written by Masashi Kishimoto. I am neither _Shonen Jump_ nor Masashi Kishimoto. If that doesn't say it all, I pity you for your lack of perceptive prowess, and strongly advise that you _not _pursue the way of the ninja.

**~V~**

**- Chapter Seventeen -  
>"Secrets Within Secrets"<strong>

**~V~**

_**Wednesday – 1:13 PM – The Hokage Tower**_

Hiruzen Sarutobi was a very old man, when you got right down to it. There had once been a time when he found paperwork to be both a consummate bother and a sorry replacement for the heavy action that his career had been built on prior to his appointment as the Third Lord Hokage of _Konohagakure_. He had been a much younger man, then, and in the intervening years the only "heavy action" he'd experienced had been largely village-shaking or traumatic in some sense or another. His final encounter with his former pupil, Orochimaru of the Sannin, for example. Or that dreadful night when the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox had broken free from its bindings and appeared, seemingly from nowhere, poised to raze the village…

So, in his sunset years, his aged and still-aging body only gave him one more reason to enjoy—or, at least, "appreciate"—the calm, peaceful nature of what was essentially a high-level desk job. When the Hidden Leaf's "Fire Shadow" was forced to take an active hand in "heavy action," it meant that the village was tiptoeing on the edge of a knife. It was, wisdom would say, better when the Hokage's role remained limited to command, authorization, and good old-fashioned paperwork.

Paperwork was still the bane of his existence, mind you; Sarutobi just didn't hate it _quite _as much as he once had.

The paperwork for the day was done, of course. For now. Eventually the secretary would bring him another stack, most of which required no active effort on his part to authorize—but the Third Lord was too experienced in the ways of the ninja world to simple glance over it and sign the damn things. Wouldn't want anything too inhumane or reckless slipping through, after all. But that's beside the point. For now, the paperwork was done, and Sarutobi was enjoying a secret pass-time: he was reading a certain little orange book written by a certain rather pervy sage.

When a knock came at his door, the book whipped out of sight, tucked safely away in a partially open drawer off to the side, which he slid shut swiftly but silently: the practiced art of a shinobi god who happened to be very good at what he did because he'd been doing it for years on end. As the book was placed in this receptacle, Sarutobi calmly said, "You may enter," and the door to his office opened.

"Hokage-sama," said the secretary, "Genin Naruto Uzumaki requests an audience. He says it pertains to 'the woman ANBU apprehended yesterday.'"

_Really, now?_ Sarutobi thought. Figuring the boy was delivering a message from Kakashi, he said, "Send him in."

A few minutes later, the door opened again and the red-haired Genin stepped into the office. Closing the door behind him, Naruto stepped forward.

"Hokage-sama," the boy said, "I wanted to ask you something."

Sarutobi, now smoking his pipe, exhaled a small puff of smoke in surprise. Why was it that every time he had a chat with this boy, Naruto would open up with something completely unexpected?

"A question about the kunoichi spy that ANBU brought in yesterday, whom Kakashi is currently interrogating?"

Naruto quirked his head to one side, with a lopsided grin. "Uh, yeah. The woman that sensei is _interrogating._ I wanted to ask you what the current situation is regarding Hanare-san."

Sarutobi sucked in a brief drag, then said, "Naruto, I can understand your curiosity, but you must accept that certain things are classified to shinobi of your rank—"

"Alright, I won't beat around the bush," Naruto cut in roughly. "I think I noticed something funny while she was with Kakashi-sensei, but I can't make sense of it because I have no context to work with. I don't know what village she was from, what her objective was, or what methods have been used to interrogate her. So, Hokage-sama, can you humor me at least to a point?"

Sarutobi blinked, requiring a second to re-balance himself in the face of Naruto's sudden intensity. For a moment, his eyes almost tricked him into thinking he was talking to Minato—

"…That depends on the 'point' to which you wish me to humor you, Naruto," Sarutobi said.

"Alright, I'm going to ask a series of questions. If you can answer them, do so. If not, I guess it's tough noogies for me. Sir. Can you do that?"

"Very well."

"Right, then," Naruto said brightly. "Question the first: what village is she from?"

"I can't answer that."

"Question the second: was her target for espionage this village, or the Land of Fire in general?"

"Her target was this village."

Naruto's eyes momentarily widened, and he continued in a more serious tone:

"Third: did she have any relevant information?"

"No."

"Fourth: who interrogated her prior to Kakashi-sensei?"

"I can't answer that."

"Fiddlesticks. Fifth: can you tell me what methods were used to interrogate her?"

"Yes."

"…Well?"

"I assume that's 'question the sixth'?"

Naruto's eye twitched slightly, and he deadpanned: "It's nice to know the Hokage still has a sense of humor these days. Alright, have it your way: what methods were used to interrogate the prisoner?"

Sarutobi inhaled another drag from his pipe. "Initially, we attempted physical torture. In early stages, the prisoner displayed such incredible resistance to pain and intimidation that a more direct method was deemed necessary. The prisoner was restrained within an amplification array and her mind was examined by one of our best shinobi."

Naruto either smirked or grimaced at that; Sarutobi couldn't tell which.

"Seventh question: did anything happen during the interrogation process that would have impaired or destroyed the sight in Hanare-san's right eye?"

This question struck Sarutobi as so oddly specific that he almost dropped his game-face completely.

"No."

Naruto remained silent for several minutes, processing this last piece of information. Then he said:

"Can you tell me why, even after reading the subject's mind, it was deemed necessary for Kakashi-sensei to 'interrogate' her?"

"No, I cannot."

"Well, I think I can guess," Naruto said, almost obstinately. "Alright, let me think for a bit, Hokage-sama."

"Tell me what this 'funny' thing you noticed was, and you can have all the time you need to think."

Naruto nodded, and then said: "I approached Hanare-san and Kakashi-sensei from their right-hand side while the two were conversing. When I did, I noticed that Hanare-san appeared to have no peripheral vision on her right side—she did not notice my approach until sensei said my name. To confirm this, during the ensuing conversation, I snapped my finger in front of both eyes, the right, and then the left. I confirmed that at that moment, Hanare-san had no sight in her right eye at all—or at least, that she could not see a finger being snapped directly in front of it."

Sarutobi's breath caught mid-drag as the implications slammed down on him—_Dojutsu? An eye technique? But what kind of eye te—_

"Given the evidence, I can only conclude," Naruto said evenly, "that Hanare-san's true objective was to infiltrate our village by allowing ANBU to capture her. She would then utilize her training to resist torture to lure her interrogators—"

"—into entering her mind!" Sarutobi breathed.

"Final question, Hokage-sama," Naruto said. "The individual who entered her mind… how much does he know?"

Sarutobi's voice was hollow as he said, "I can't tell you that."

Naruto grimaced, closed his eyes, and said, "Now, Hokage-sama, you promised me the time I need to think."

Sarutobi nodded dumbly, watching the boy with undisguised wonder. _This twelve-year-old boy, _he thought, _noticed something like that, recognized it has a crucial detail, and deduced this much so quickly using the bare minimum of information I could relate to him._

Many long minutes passed then, as Naruto stood in silence and almost complete stillness with his eyes closed—it seemed almost as if the boy were attempting to gather natural energy to enter Sage Mode. And the expression on his face—

_Naruto, just what _are _you?_

Naruto now no longer looked to Sarutobi like the Fourth Hokage. He now most closely resembled a certain Shikaku Nara, the Jonin Commander of the Hidden Leaf Village, whenever he was stuck on a strategy and was taking the time to devise the next five or six moves.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's mind turned the situation over and over, analyzing it from every angle—it was possible that this eye-technique was just a figment of their imaginations, a product of over-analysis, but it was not the shinobi way to ignore suspicion when suspicion was encountered. Sarutobi's first instinct was to have the spy executed—that would be the safest thing… except that if the Lock Village had planned to allow her capture, they would have planned to facilitate her return to them, and the surest way, the most obvious next step—

"They're going to capture one of our ninja and propose a trade of prisoners," Naruto said at length, opening his eyes.

Sarutobi blinked. It was almost as if the boy had plucked the thought from his very mind, but he knew better than that.

_Kakashi said he was sharp, but I had no idea he was _this _sharp. Naruto, how on Earth did you manage to fail the Graduation Exam two times in a row?_

"Or maybe, they already have and we haven't heard anything yet," Naruto said as an afterthought. "Now, Hokage-sama, you've indulged me longer than I seriously expected you to. So it seems like a lot to ask that you indulge me further, but I intend to ask it just the same: I have a plan."

Sarutobi regarded Naruto with an impassive mask. _Now he has a plan, too? Minato, just what sort of monster did you and Kushina produce? Apart from the whole "Jinchuriki" part, that is?_

"I have a plan," said Naruto again, "that will allow us to gain information on the _dojutsu_ that Hanare-san possesses, rescue whomever her village captures, and grant Hanare-san her heart's deepest wish in one fell swoop. Basically, everyone wins… except Hanare-san's village. It's a gamble, and for it to work I need to have a private conversation with Hanare-san when she returns from her day out with Kakashi-sensei. Or at least, you need to leave me alone with her inside an interrogation chamber. What I ask from you right now is this: will you hear me out, and consider what I have in mind?"

And suddenly, it seemed to Sarutobi that Minato Namikaze was standing right there in the room with him, only he had red hair and was twelve years old again for some reason. The resemblance had returned, seeming even more striking than ever—

"Very well, Naruto," Sarutobi said. "I'll hear what you have to say."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Naruto said graciously—and he meant it.

**~V~**

_**Wednesday – 8:08 PM – An Interrogation Chamber**_

Hanare wasn't sure exactly what she was going to do now. She'd made her choice, and that was that—but now, after the fact, part of her was insisting it had been a stupid, emotional, impulsive one. And the consequences? Well, what did she have waiting for her now? Execution or disgrace if the returned to her village; death or imprisonment at the hands of her captors if she stayed; or, if she should escape…

_The life of a low-class rogue ninja, _she mused. The pit of her stomach suddenly felt extremely empty.

The penalty for deserting your village was death. The penalty for betraying your village in any way was probably death, too. And despite her irrationally warm feelings toward the place, to the Hidden Leaf Village she was still an enemy. So imprisonment, death, or a life of running from imprisonment and death.

All of this was playing out in her head behind a generic, downtrodden mask as she sat in the interrogation room, awaiting whatever the Hidden Leaf had in store for her next. Well, she thought, it wasn't that scar-faced devil's "Honesty Room," so thank the gods for small blessings…

Her eyes were closed and her head was hanging; her hands were bound behind her back to the chair. She could probably escape it if she wanted to, but what would be the point? All there was to the room were four walls, a door, and a one-way mirror she couldn't see through from this side. It had been the scar-faced devil who had brought her here, and after seeing first-hand what that man was capable of in a torture chamber, she didn't want to even think about what he'd be like in a straight-up fight.

Her only way out would be to see the mission through and hope for a chance to escape her former allies when she was back in the hands of—

The door opened, cutting off her thoughts. She maintained her downtrodden façade without flinching. Then a voice met her ears and her surprise caused her to snap her head up, eyes opening to find a certain red-haired boy closing the door behind him with a sheepish look on his face.

"Heya, Hanare, how's it hangin'?" Naruto said. Hanare blinked back at him numbly.

_What…?_

**~V~**

Outside the room stood Ibiki Morino, Inoichi Yamanaka, Kakashi Hatake, and Hiruzen Sarutobi, all standing watch on the other side of the one-way mirror. Ibiki's arms were crossed, and he looked for all the world like he wanted to shout in the Hokage's face that this was a _bad _idea and the old man should feel bad for going through with it. Inoichi was surveying the scene on the other side of the glass with a furrowed brow but an otherwise calm face. Sarutobi was smoking his pipe, and seeming sublimely unconcerned with the obvious misgivings of the other three.

Kakashi, who had only just been called over, turned a puzzled eye on the Hokage and said, "What exactly do you think _Naruto _can get out of Hanare that the rest of us haven't already dragged out of her?"

"Be silent, watch, and we'll see," Sarutobi said.

"It won't work," grunted Ibiki. "With all due respect, Hokage-sama."

"Yes, you've insinuated as much," Sarutobi sighed, "about four or five times already. Be silent, and watch. Let's see what comes of this…"

What_ won't work? _Kakashi thought, turning his eye back to the scene before him, where Naruto was now unbinding Hanare from the chair.

**~V~**

"So… _you _are interrogating me now, Naruto-kun?" Hanare said without thinking. Her eyes widened as she felt the boy's hands work at the rope she was bound with, and her arms fell free.

"Ah… if by 'interrogating' you mean whatever sensei was doing, then, uh, no. I'm into younger girls, you know, my own age, preferably with indigo hair and a tendency to blush like a roseberry bush whenever I hint that I _might _just be interested if she ever worked up the confidence to stop blushing like a roseberry bush whenever I hint that I might be interested."

…_Huh?_ Hanare thought, momentarily knocked for a loop by the boy's rambling.

"But yeah, officially, I'm supposed to be having a little chat with you right now, and yes, the Powers That Be can hear every word we're saying right now. _AND IF ANY OF YOU JOKERS BREATH A WORD OF THAT LAST LITTLE MONOLOGUE TO HINA-CHAN, I SWEAR ON ALL THINGS RAMEN THAT I WILL NOT REST UNTIL I'VE PERSONALLY SHOVED A FUMA SHURIKEN UP THAT PERSON'S RECTUM!"_

Hanare winced, and on the other side of glace, a certain masked Jonin groaned.

**~V~**

Ibiki's right eye twitched.

"This kid," he deadpanned, "reminds me of Anko."

Beside him, three heads nodded their agreement as they watched the unorthodox interrogation unfold.

**~V~**

"So, you're a part of the intel division?" Hanare said, massaging her wrist. "You look a little short for an interrogation expert." The boy plopped down in the chair on the other side of the table.

"_Fuck_ no!" Naruto said with a sour look on his face. "Do I look like the kind of guy who gets off on dripping acid in peoples' eyes? I'm almost insulted that you'd even say that."

**~V~**

"_Have _you ever dripped acid in someone's eyes?" Inoichi asked mildly.

"Once or twice," Ibiki said. "Good results, but a little too 'permanent' for my taste."

**~V~**

"So why are you here?" Hanare asked.

"Mostly because you used that nifty little eye-jutsu of yours to nick a whole lot of vital intel from Yamanaka-san's brain," Naruto said casually.

Hanare couldn't stop herself. She gasped.

**~V~**

'_Nifty eye-jutsu?' What—? _Kakashi thought.

"Okay, so he got that much out of her," Ibiki said, almost grudgingly. "The kid shows promise. Might be good enough to work in the intel division someday, once he's been properly trained. It's _still_ not going to work."

_Wait, there's more? And what eye-technique are we talking about here?_ Kakashi thought, glancing at his compatriots. _Was she playing me…?_

As Kakashi's eye drifted over the suddenly intense face of Inoichi and the Hokage's still-unreadable visage, he felt like kicking himself.

_Inoichi told me to use my Sharingan,_ he thought. _I should have used it. I let my emotions get in the way of the mission._

He turned back to the interrogation chamber.

_Damn it…_

**~V~**

Hanare's expression became stone-cold, but the damage was done. Naruto looked back, scratched at his whisker-marks, and said, "Oh, that's good. I was still worried I was being paranoid. So I was right, then. Because it'd be embarrassing if I was wrong, you know. I dragged the Hokage over here for this and everything..."

A chill swept through Hanare's veins—_The Hokage? He's watching this?_

Through gritted teeth, she asked the question. She knew she probably shouldn't, that it might still have been possible to salvage something of this mess, but—

"How did you know?"

Naruto winced a bit at the hurt in her voice as she asked this.

"It was your eyes," Naruto said. "When I met you in the park earlier today, you didn't see me. I knew who you were, of course—our team saw you when ANBU brought you in. I didn't mean to find out—actually, I just wanted to talk to you—but I sort of had really lucky timing, didn't I? If I'd shown up a little earlier or a little later, you wouldn't have been using that technique and I would have missed that clue."

Hanare's body went rigid as the realization hit her. Two snaps, one in front of her right eye, then one in front of the left, and one blink—

_This boy—_

"You figured it out… just because of that?" Hanare said.

"I had to get some perspective from Hokage-sama to do it, but yeah," Naruto said.

**~V~**

Kakashi was now staring at the back of his pupil in mild wonderment.

"_He _figured it out?" Kakashi said. "By himself?"

"By himself," Sarutobi said.

Ibiki glanced at the Hokage, and then his eyes met Inoichi's—whose expression of surprise matched Ibiki's own. The head of Torture and Interrogation then turned his eyes back to Naruto, feeling the first hint of a new appreciation for this wet-behind-the-ears Genin who'd stepped in almost out of nowhere, unraveling a mystery that neither he nor Inoichi had been able to solve.

_A ninja uncovers the secrets within secrets, _said the old adage.

"Maybe," breathed Ibiki, "just maybe… this crazy plan of yours might work, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi exhaled a long stream of smoke, closed his eyes, and said, "It's not my plan. It's his."

All three of the gathered Jonin turned blank stares on the Hokage. Beyond the glass, Hanare's stunned silence dragged on…

**~V~**

**Author's Note:** Cliffhanger, bitches! So, what exactly does Naruto have in mind? And will he be able to get it from Hanare? Are there even more secrets to be found beneath this secret he's stumbled upon? And what's to become of Hanare?

Tune in next time for more suspense, and even _more _fanservice! (On that note, all in the room who can't make heads of tails of _Evangelion_, say "Aye!")


	19. XVIII: Eye To Eye

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is a _Shonen Jump _publication written by Masashi Kishimoto. I am neither _Shonen Jump_ nor Masashi Kishimoto. If that doesn't say it all, I pity you for your lack of perceptive prowess, and strongly advise that you _not _pursue the way of the ninja.

**~V~**

**- Chapter Eighteen -  
>"Eye To Eye"<strong>

**~V~**

It was Naruto who finally broke the silence.

"That's not the only thing I figured out," Naruto continued slowly, carefully, weighing his words.

Hanare let out a dry chuckle.

"Kakashi really does have some amazing students, doesn't he?" she said, seeming to collapse in on herself. "What else could you possibly know, Naruto-kun? How much could you see with those eyes of yours that no one else was able to notice?"

"A few things," Naruto said, "although compared to my friends and my sensei, my 'eyes' are nothing special. And I'm pretty sure I wasn't the fastest one to figure out that your village will be dropping us a line in a few days' time to let us know they have one of our comrades in custody, could y'all please kindly return our li'l ol' insignificant spy who knows absolutely nothing about your village anyway, so what's the harm?"

Hanare shook her head, shoulders slumped and a weak smile surfacing on her face. So that was that, huh? Mission failed. Death, then. Or maybe they'd drill her until she finally gave up and let slip the secrets of her Ocular Mind-Reading technique. Whatever the case, there was no way she'd be returning to the Lock Village now. She had too much intel on the state of affairs in the Hidden Leaf. Or so they thought—

"I'm pretty sure I'm the only one here who could have guessed that you'd purged the intel you'd stolen, though."

Hanare's undisguised shock was obvious, and this time, she was so off-balance that she made no attempt to cover it up.

**~V~**

Ibiki opened his mouth, closed it, turned to look at the Hokage, and said, "Purged the intel? What's the boy talking about, Hokage-sama?"

"I wondered whether or not he was really on to something on that point," Sarutobi said. "Judging from the young lady's surprise, I'd say Naruto was right. He'd made a rather compelling argument to convince me of it, but there was no way for me to be sure unless I could see for myself. That," Sarutobi added, rolling an eye to meet Ibiki's, "is chiefly why I relented."

Kakashi, whose eye was now fixed on Hanare, was tempted to speak—though he wasn't sure exactly what he intended to say.

Before he could sort out his thoughts, Hanare had spoken first.

**~V~**

"How?" she asked softly. Then, her eyes blazing with renewed focus, she leapt up from her chair, knocking it over backward. She turned her eyes away from the boy. "How could you know that?"—raising her voice now—"Can you read my mind? All this time—have you been searching my thoughts with the same technique? Is that how you really know? Have you been reading my mind?"

Naruto gave a small start in his seat—he'd been unperturbed by the woman's outburst, but that question had caught him off-guard. "Wait, that Jutsu lets you read other peoples' minds directly? I thought you could only read someone's mind if they were already inside of your own?"

"Don't play the fool with me! There's no other way you could know, no way you could—"

"I don't 'know' anything," Naruto cut in, sharply, but gently. "I just 'understand.'"

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I 'understand' how you feel."

"How I feel? What does that have to do with—"

"Everything," Naruto said. "You see, the one thing that puzzled me the most when I figured out your plan was the question of _why_ you were using that technique at all when I noticed it. You couldn't see the outside world while your eye was turned toward your own mind. But you can definitely see just fine when you aren't using it—why else would you walk around with a haircut that completely obscures your other eye?"

Hanare's defensive stance eased up some, her hardened face softening to something between realization and puzzlement.

"So I did wonder if you could read other peoples' minds at first," Naruto said, "but it was easy enough to rule that out. If you could read someone's mind just by standing next to them and conversing, well, not only would that be stupidly overpowered, but it would render the whole plan over-the-top and unnecessary—and based on what I know of eye techniques in general, such a thing would likely require direct, unbroken eye contact in the first place."

"It... _does _require eye contact," Hanare said. "And a lot of time. That's why—"

"—it's easier to lure someone like Yamanaka-san into your mind and use the technique on yourself instead, because such high-ranking shinobi would be too suspicious to engage a complete stranger in conversation for so long, let alone without breaking eye contact."

Hanare nodded numbly. "But that doesn't explain how you could know—"

"It's because I was eavesdropping on your conversation with Kakashi-sensei," Naruto admitted almost sheepishly.

**~V~**

"He was?" Kakashi said. "Wait, what am I saying? Of course he was. I bet Sasuke and Hinata were there, too. I should have known. Damn nosy kids..."

"And you call yourself a Jonin," Ibiki sighed.

**~V~**

Hanare stared back, now looking directly into Naruto's eyes without fear, but with a kind of hollow understanding. "So you heard all of that, did you?"

"I did," Naruto said. "That's why I had to talk to you. It was a stupid, irrational, impulsive decision, but I had to say something. Because I 'understand,' Hanare. I 'understand'—in a weird, totally roundabout kind of way—what you were feeling as you said those words. I know what loneliness is, and I also know what it feels like to find that place where you belong—where people accept you, and where you feel at peace—at home."

Hanare's defensive stance dissolved, and her arms fell to her sides, swinging limply as they settled into place.

"I 'understand' how you feel," Naruto went on, "so when I thought about it, I really just had to think about what I would do if I were in your position at the time."

"I couldn't..." Hanare began, faltering, trailing off—

"You couldn't betray your home?" Naruto prompted.

"No," she said at last. "No, I could not."

**~V~**

Ibiki Morino was no fool, and he was, after all, a master manipulator of the human psyche. It occurred to him that, given the correct perspective on Hanare's emotional state, and if he hadn't already branded himself in the woman's mind as a terrifying man with a sadistic streak as wide as the Hokage Monument, he could have easily pulled off exactly the feat this boy in front of him had achieved. That, however, was beside the point. The important thing was neither the situation nor the words spoken; it was in the woman's demeanor. She neither appeared downtrodden, nor defeated, nor defensive, nor impassive, but totally and completely at peace.

Ibiki had lived for a very long time, and spent most of his life as a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village. The feeling he was now sensing from Hanare of the Hidden Lock Village was one he had encountered before, perhaps too many times to count. It was the calm acceptance of a ninja willing to lay down their life for their village, for their family and their comrades. It was the kind of shinobi that Ibiki, and the Hidden Leaf Village in general, respected above all else. There was a certain quality about this feeling, one that Ibiki had come over time to conclude was impossible to imitate. He was convinced that for Hanare, it was as genuine as for any Leaf Ninja who'd ever given their lives in battle so that their comrades could carry out a vital mission or escape to safety or—

Well, the point was best summed up by the words Inoichi spoke as Ibiki thought all of this:

"It looks like that's the game."

**~V~**

"'Home is where the heart is,' isn't that how the saying goes?" Naruto mused. "Everything you said to Kakashi-sensei in the park was true—your feelings, your story about being raised outside the village and away from your family, your 'fate' of being born simply to be used as a spy."

Hanare nodded. "Yes," she said. "Everything I said was true."

"So the feelings stirred up by being in our village, walking alongside sensei, they..."

"Enough," Hanare said. "I won't try to hide it any longer. I... yes. Walking with Kakashi through the village... seeing everyone there... it was exactly the way I'd imagined the home I've never known. That's why I couldn't go through with my mission. I couldn't betray my home..."

There wasn't any hurt in her eyes or voice now, and as she spoke, she smiled. It was a slightly sad smile, but it was a smile nonetheless.

"So," she said softly. "Now you know. Do what you will with me, then. If I die here, at least I die knowing that I've... done something right for my homeland—"

"Oh, come on!" Naruto cut in, crossing his arms over his chest and looking most insulted. "Do I look like the kind of guy who'd just sit back and let a friend die? Give me a little more credit. It's true, the reason I'm here right now is partly because we needed to confirm my suspicions. But that's only part of it. Hanare, the real reason I'm here is because I want to ask for your help, so I can help _you _in exchange."

"You want my help?" Hanare echoed.

"And if you're willing to work with us," Naruto said, "we can give you a real way out. A chance to start a new life for yourself, here, in our village. It's an idea you might not be comfortable with—you'll probably think we're using you, and I'm not going to lie, to think this little scheme up I had to shove a ten-foot pole up my ass and pretend I didn't care about anything but my own goddamn village."

Naruto heaved a sigh, folded his hands in front of his face, and leaned forward, unconsciously assuming a familiar stance which he normally associated with his more angst-oriented companion.

"It wasn't pleasant, but this is the best I can do for you. So whatever you might think about this plan, I want you to know that I'm doing this for _you_, not for Konoha. So, Hanare, I ask you this: will you hear me out, and consider what I have in mind?"

Hanare's face as she regarded the boy was so mixed as to be unreadable. On the one hand, she seemed wary of the boy's words; on the other, intrigued; between the two was a blank disbelief that she was talking to a twelve-year-old ninja trainee. The boy's eyes looked back into her own, and they were sharp, striking, intense... and pleading.

Hanare knelt down, picked up the chair she had knocked over, and slowly set it down on its legs. Then, she sat down and faced Naruto yet again.

"Alright," she said. "I'm listening."

**~V~**

"Is it an act, or is the boy being genuine?" Inoichi asked, glancing toward both Ibiki and Sarutobi. It was Kakashi who spoke first:

"He's being genuine," the masked man said. "This is just the kind of person that Naruto has grown into. He... well, you know what he is. Because of that, Naruto has had to endure a lot of hardship and loneliness, but he knows instinctively that reaching out to others is easier than trying to tough it out on your own."

"And because he understands some of what Hanare is feeling," Sarutobi added, "he wants to do what he can to ease that pain. His suffering has taught him compassion."

Ibiki frowned. "That compassion is going to get him killed one day, or worse. A shinobi can't afford to go around feeling sorry for his enemies."

"That _is_ true," Sarutobi said. "But Naruto knows that well enough already. At the same time, throwing compassion to the wind in its entirety isn't something that Naruto is capable of. So he had to find a middle ground between idealism and practicality. What he came up with, well..."

**~V~**

Hanare was frowning, her eyes closed as she processed the offer. When she opened them, she said:

"Just to be sure I understand you... what the Third Hokage wants is for me to play along when the prisoner exchange occurs. A trap will be set, and in the ensuing chaos, it will be made to appear that I have been killed. I am then to return to the Village Hidden in the Leaves, voluntarily, and divulge what I can of the Ocular Mind-Reading technique—a technique unique, until now, to the shinobi spies of the Hidden Lock Village. In other words, you want me to give away one of the key secrets to the continued survival of the Land of Keys."

Hanare's eyes narrowed as she spoke this last statement.

"I told you it was an idea you might be uncomfortable with," Naruto said, scratching at his whisker marks.

"So, in short, you wish me to betray my Hidden Village."

"Well, to be blunt, Hanare, you kind of already _did _that."

"There's a difference between failing a mission and giving out those kinds of secrets! If the secrets behind this technique get out—who knows what could happen? The Land of Keys would almost certainly be left vulnerable—"

"Hanare," Naruto said, "the Hidden Leaf Village has no reason to do harm to Jomae _or _the Land of Keys, and I can assure you, we're just as capable as the Lock Ninja of keeping our secrets to ourselves. Sometimes in rather unsavory ways—"

At this point Naruto covered his mouth with a fist, turned his head to the left, and let out a very loud, fake cough that sounded suspiciously like "_Byakugan!"_ Beyond the mirror, Ibiki couldn't stop the corner of his mouth from twitching upward in a momentary smirk.

"—but keep them we do. Trust me, _Konohagakure_ has just as much reason as Jomae to want that Jutsu kept as far away from other Hidden Villages as possible. If anything, the only danger to Jomae will be that they won't be able to pull any stunts like the one you just tried on Konoha, and let's face facts, that'll be the case even if you don't help us."

Hanare bit her lip, knowing the boy's logic to be sound. Of the Five Great Nations, the Land of Fire was quite possibly the one with the most enemies, and paradoxically, the least aggressive of them all. When a war involved Konoha, it was either because someone had instigated a war against them, or because someone had instigated a war against one of their allies.

"I'm not sure I trust you," Hanare said, her eyes flicking to one side as she grasped at the next thread of misgiving that occurred to her. "Even if I help you, wouldn't I be too much of a security risk? What's to stop them from disposing of me once they have what they need?"

"I won't lie," Naruto said darkly, "you _would _be considered a security risk. The deception will have to be thorough enough that Jomae would have no cause to investigate further, and if you agree to help us, you're going to be placed under surveillance for a very, very long time. It's unlikely that you'll ever be allowed to serve as a ninja for our village. However, I have the Third Hokage's word that you will be allowed to live and work at least as a civilian within with the village if you do this. You know what your alternatives are, right?"

Hanare looked at the table, and murmured, "Even if I return to my village, I'll probably be tried and executed for deleting the information I obtained."

"Right, and if you just go off on your own, you'll be hunted as a rogue," Naruto said. "But with the skill of our medical corps, we can make it appear as if you died in the line of duty."

Hanare looked up and said, "How do I know that you're not just trying to manipulate me, Naruto-kun?"

She wanted it. She wanted to believe that Naruto was genuinely trying to help her, that she could just leave it all behind and make a home for herself where she wouldn't be alone anymore. It was evident in her voice.

Naruto looked her square in the eye, and said: "See for yourself."

Behind the glass, the eyes of three elite ninja widened in shock.

**~V~**

"Hokage-sama, if Hanare-san reads Naruto's mind—" Inoichi began, and Kakashi completed the thought.

"Everything about the Nine-Tailed Fox and its Jinchuriki is treated as one, big S-Class secret," Kakashi said. "Is it a good idea to allow Hanare access to that knowledge?"

"She _would _already have it if she hadn't purged the information she obtained from Inoichi," Ibiki grunted. Inoichi and Kakashi both nodded, conceding the point.

"Naruto has my permission," said the Hokage. "Besides that, Hanare is safely in our hands. One way or another, no information she obtains will leave our village. Let's see what comes of this. If Naruto does manage to earn this woman's trust..."

Kakashi looked on, feeling an odd mixture of trepidation and hope as the red-haired Genin and the foreign kunoichi locked eyes and remained in place, unblinking, for what felt like a very long time.

**~V~**

Hanare's right eye moved almost imperceptibly—no eyes but Sharingan eyes would have been able to track it as it weaved the signs necessary to initiate and maintain Jomae Village's Ocular Mind-Reading technique.

And she saw it all—with a willing subject, the technique took much less time to use, after all. She saw the looks the villagers gave him, the neglect he suffered in the orphanage, saw his own wrath-filled child's face looking back at him out of a dingy-looking bathroom's mirror. She saw his first days at the Ninja Academy, where he raised his hand with an energy she hadn't seen in any memory previous to that one, only to slowly lower it again when it became clear that the instructor had no intention of acknowledging it.

She saw, though the eyes of a lonely boy no older than ten, the sight of parents fetching their children from the local playground as the viewer hid behind a nearby fence. She saw memory of a lonely boy drawing close to a streetside vendor, admiring the animal-patterned masks on display, only to be roughly shoved back onto the street—collapsing onto his backside. The vendor then shouted at the boy that he wanted a mask, he could have one—yanking one off its hook and throwing it at him.

The boy looked around at the small crowd that was pooling up around him as he staggered to his feet. Whether they were showing pity or disgust as they looked down at the boy was unclear to Hanare—it looked to her as a mix of the two. When the boy looked down at the mask, she saw it was patterned in the likeness of—

—_a fox?_

Something about the detail rang out to Hanare as significant—not to her, but to the person whose mind she was reading. Not understanding why, she moved on.

A myriad of other images and voices followed, and as the story pieced itself together—

_Stay—away—from—SASUKE!_

—Hanare began to understand. She saw the loneliness, the longing, the same as her own—

_But I _want _to understand, Sasuke! Just let me! Give me something to work with, so I can help you _do_ something about it!_

—but also the shadow of a second demon, not with fangs and tails, but a bitter desire to get payback for the hell of loneliness he'd been thrust into—

_Don't you _dare _look away, Hinata Hyuga!_

—until eventually, things changed—

_Heh... heh heh... you know, Neji-_chaaaaaan_... there's a certain line from a certain book that I've just been dying to use..._

—and some of that shadow was pushed back by a light—

_So, since you like talking about "giving up" so much—_

—warm, and bright—

—_why don't _you _give up..._

—which the boy clung to like a drowning man hanging by a rope in a raging river—

_...ON TELLING ME TO GIVE UP!_

She shut down the technique, and was surprised to find her normal vision unusually blurry for some reason.

"Hanare," she heard Naruto say through the haze, "I just want you to have the same chance at happiness that I found. Please... let me help you."

It was then that Hanare registered the tickling sensation roll down her left cheek, and when she reached up to brush it off, she blinked a few times, clearing her vision, to find her face and fingers moist with her own tears.

**~V~**

Hiruzen Sarutobi exhaled a long stream of smoke. "I think," he said at last, "that our young interrogator has won over the reluctant defector."

The three Jonin, each for their own reasons, could not immediately respond. When one did, it was Ibiki, who simply said, "It looks that way."

**~V~**

**Author's Note:** Hanare has been convinced to fully defect from the Hidden Lock Village and sell the secret of her mind-reading technique in exchange for a new beginning, and has glimpsed what are, to us, the first hints of the backstory between Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata. So, what happened in the past? Just how did Sasuke and Naruto wind up as friends, anyway? And exactly what went down between Naruto and Neji?

All this and more... will come in due time. More to the point, stay tuned for the conclusion of the Hanare arc, which will wrap up over the course of the next one-or-two chapters. After that, we have one really long _original _story arc to run through before the end of Book I, and then it's off to the Chunin Exams for Book II. What ripples will this latest alteration to the timeline cause in the future? And will they be for good... or ill?

We'll see what happens when it happens. In the meantime, thanks for reading, reviewing, favoriting, subscribing, or whatever you've been doing to keep my motivation levels up this high. =3

**Translation Note: **To my knowledge, Hanare's mind-reading technique has no actual name. I am calling it "Ocular Mind-Reading," although on Narutopedia it's listed simply as "Eye Mind Reading." I'm working with that wiki's rather limited entry on the technique, and may take certain liberties in how it is applied, but I don't want it to be _too _useful, either. Let me know what you think of its balance factor as the story goes on.


	20. XIX: Talk About Anticlimax

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is a _Shonen Jump _publication written by Masashi Kishimoto. I am neither _Shonen Jump_ nor Masashi Kishimoto. If that doesn't say it all, I pity you for your lack of perceptive prowess, and strongly advise that you _not _pursue the way of the ninja.

**~V~**

**- Chapter Nineteen -  
>"Talk About Anticlimax..."<strong>

**~V~**

_**Saturday – 11:54 PM – A Bridge Near the Border**_

The sun was high in the sky and the tension was right up there with it. The small handful of shinobi gathered at the bridge that spanned the ravine—beneath which ran a river—waited with bated breath for the ninja of the Hidden Lock Village to arrive with the Jonin they had captured.

On this side of the great bridge stood nine shinobi, one of whom was a prisoner and three of whom were mere children. Sasuke Uchiha stood a short ways behind Kakashi and Hanare, eyes rolling slowly from left to right and back again, seeking signs of ambush—despite the ambush their own team had already set. Hinata Hyuga stood on the opposite side of the red-haired boy. Her jaw was set and and she held her eyes straight forward, as though unwilling to betray a sign of her own unease.

Naruto Uzumaki was reading a book—his personal favorite, actually. It was a battered hardcover shinobi adventure novel he'd picked up at a used-book store several years previous. The shop-clerk had shamelessly price-gouged him for it—thus a five-ryo diversion had been sold for a whopping fifteen. It was the one time he'd been price-gouged but still come away from the experience feeling like he'd snagged the better part of the bargain.

The novel was _Tales of a Gutsy Ninja_. Apparently, it hadn't sold very well despite being written by one of the Three Legendary Sannin. Naruto, for the life of him, couldn't see why—the main character was just so... so... well, for want of a better word... _cool._ Sure, the writing was a little bit amateurish in retrospect, and the ending was a bit of a downer, but still...

Naruto had taken to re-reading this book before the start of any C-ranked mission, not so much because reading it so enraptured him, but because the main character (who, coincidentally, was also named "Naruto") pretty much embodied everything that Naruto himself saw as the definition of a "true shinobi." Or maybe he'd come to see it that way because he liked the character so much? Bah, one way or the other... it was his personal way of psyching himself up for a mission. He'd read this awesome little book and think of how much closer the upcoming hurdle would bring him to being like that "other" Naruto.

The group also happened to contain four others—Inoichi Yamanaka and Ibiki Morino, as well as two Chunin. It was quite a formidable gathering; normally, missions would be conducted by teams of four or fewer, but the circumstances were somewhat exceptional.

True to Naruto's prediction and Hanare's admission, Konoha had received a message from the Hidden Lock Village on Thursday. It had arrived in the evening, and handily explained the sudden disappearance of a certain Jonin who'd gone missing while on border patrol. The hostage's name was Riichi, and of course, he would be returned safely—the stipulation being that the Leaf must exchange their own Lock prisoner at a time and place of Jomae's choosing, which happened to be here and now. Or a few minutes from now, to be more specific.

Glancing at his watch, Naruto closed his book and slipped it back into his supply pack. They'd be arriving any moment now...

**~V~**

_**Sunday – 12:23 PM – Present Day**_

"Oh. Well, that makes a little more sense," Anko said. "The old man would have to be _really _losing his grip to trust a B-rank to a team with less than two months of experience, without at least sending along backup."

"There's that, yeah," Naruto said. "And honestly, as far as the actual mission goes, the three of us didn't do a whole lot. An hour or so in advance, the Jonin team rigged the underside of the whole damn bridge with high-power explosive tags, set to trigger on command. The three of us were there, yeah—but come to think of it, I'm not entirely sure why the Hokage sent us. I have a sneaking suspicion that he just wanted to credit my career file with something impressive, because of the part I played in convincing Hanare to switch sides."

"You ever consider a career in T&I, bratface?"

"Uh, no. And I really don't see myself in that field, honestly. Sadism just isn't my cup o' noodles," Naruto said. "Anyway... when the Lock Ninja showed up—some old guy and five or six others, plus Riichi-san—they called over to us from the other side of the bridge. One man from each side would accompany both prisoners to the middle of the bridge, where they would be exchanged..."

**~V~**

_**Saturday – 12:01 PM – Mission Commencement**_

Veins bulged at Hinata's temples as she activated her Byakugan, zeroing in on the hostage at the far side of the great bridge.

"It's not a Transformation," she confirmed. "That is definitely Riichi-san."

Receiving a nod from her sensei, she deactivated her all-seeing eyes and took a few steps back, rejoining her teammates.

Kakashi and Hanare marched across the bridge, Hanare's hands bound with a wooden wrist-cuff. On the opposite side of the bridge, the captive Konoha Jonin trailed along wearily beside a hunched-over old man in a wide-brimmed straw hat, who hobbled along with the aid of a staff. When the two pairs converged, there was a moment where no one said or did anything. Then, as if responding to an unseen signal, both hostages simultaneous stepped past each other—Hanare with a cool gait, and Riichi a relieved stumble.

As Hanare stopped beside the old man, she turned her head around to look over her shoulder at the masked man who had escorted her—

—and Kakashi whipped out his kunai.

"I won't let you go," he growled.

And in the next moment, the whole bridge exploded.

**~V~**

"Oh, is it game-time now?" Naruto asked brightly as the older members of the group all sprang to action, leaping clear over the heads of the three Genin to join the fray. The four shinobi in the middle now all stood on freefalling pieces of the great bridge, keeping their balance and foothold by sheer force of chakra control.

Keeping their eyes on the bridge as it was blasted to pieces, Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata—the latter two of which had activated their respective ocular _kekkei genkai—_watched as the old man barked some order to Hanare, who smoothly tore off the dress she'd been wearing to reveal a simple but effective utilitarian kunoichi uniform. The hand-cuff was simply discarded as if she'd escaped by magic. Hinata wondered if that was part of Konoha's own plan or if it were simply a skill the foreign kunoichi happened to have been trained in—weirdly, she was betting it was the latter.

The two Lock ninja leapt off their chunk of bridge as it fell, with Kakashi in hot pursuit.

"Left!" Sasuke snapped, and the three of them all sprinted off in the direction Hanare and the old man had fled.

Hanare was far too fast for any but Kakashi to pursue, but that was fine. Their target was the Jomae escort, and it was only about twenty seconds before the old man came to a skidding halt, standing on the surface of the flowing river as if it were perfectly stationary, solid ground. Naruto came to a catlike landing on the surface of the water himself, making a point to ignore the rock behind him (which would have provided excellent footing, had he needed it). Behind the old man, two other young ninja—Sasuke and Hinata—landed similarly, standing on the water simply to display that they could.

A small, subtle hint that these three children were not to be fucked with. Sasuke's idea, actually. Naruto liked it. Sometimes, flaunting a bit of one's power was a good way to give the enemy pause.

"That's as far as you go," said Sasuke. On the other two sides surrounding the old man, Hinata had assumed her Gentle Fist fighting stance and Naruto's hands were crossed over his torso, tucked beneath the flaps of his vest—no doubt grasping some concealed weapons or shuriken.

The elderly Jomae shinobi smiled, tipping up the brim of his hat to look Naruto square in the eye.

"Don't underestimate we of the Lock—" he began, but his rasping voice was immediately cut off.

Naruto's hands whipped out and two bright blue threads of pure chakra lashed out at the old man. Taken aback, the Jomae escort backpedaled to avoid them—but the other two Genin rushed him from both directions.

In his scramble to evade Sasuke's high kick and Hinata's palm thrust, the old man could do nothing to escape Naruto's two stunning-paralysis tags. As a twofold jolt of electricity caused his body to twitch and spasm, he was helpless to defend against a hard chop to the side of his neck.

Sasuke's blow rendered the old man unconscious, but before he could slide into the water, he was caught by a pair of chakra threads—which Naruto had transferred from the sealing tags to the man's ribcage.

Naruto blinked a few times. "Oh, er... sorry. Were you about to say something dramatic? Didn't mean to cut you off, there. Okay, that's a lie. I totally did. But that's what you get for stopping to converse with the enemy, numbnuts."

These two threads he managed to maintain for ten seconds, holding the old man's limp form aloft just long enough for Sasuke and Hinata to bind his hands and feet firmly with ninja wire. When he finally lost his grip on the Puppetmaster technique, Sasuke was there to hold the man out of the water.

"Well," Naruto said. "That was easy."

"Embarrassingly easy," Sasuke agreed.

"What do you suppose he'd have done if we let him make the first move?" Hinata asked, eyeing the man warily.

"No clue, don't wanna find out," Naruto said blandly. "Let's just haul this old bag of bones back up to solid ground so we can truss 'im up good and proper before he wakes up. The rest's up to Kakashi-sensei and the others—our part in this battle is done."

**~V~**

_**Sunday – 12:27 PM – Present Day**_

"Easiest. B-rank mission. EVER," Anko deadpanned. "Seriously, talk about anticlimax. I was expecting you guys to kick ass and take names, but all you did was one-hit K.O. some old geezer and tie him to a tree."

"We spent more time carrying him back up the side of the ravine than we did actually chasing or fighting him, it was pretty pathetic," Naruto said. "But Hanare thinks he was planning to blow himself up, so it probably wouldn't have lasted long in any case."

"So, you're saying that by totally bashing the old man's pride in with a humiliating defeat, you actually saved his life?" Anko asked.

"Pretty much," Naruto said with a shrug.

**~V~**

_**Saturday – 12:38 PM – Tied to a Tree**_

Consciousness leaked back in trickles, but when the old man came to, he found himself (surprise, surprise) tied to a tree. Actually, this _was_ a surprise, as he rather expected he'd wake up dead.

"Oh, he's alive," the old man heard a boy's voice say. The voice was bored, uninterested, and yet highly amused at the same time.

The man, vision still muddy, glared around at his surroundings—his straw hat rested beside him on the ground. The bridge was nowhere to be seen, but the ravine through which the river flowed was to the man's right, just barely visible at the corner of his vision if he craned his neck enough. As for the man himself, he could barely move at all, and there was no sense trying to use an escape technique with all three of these young ninja surrounding him. The one with the red hair who had paralyzed him with those peculiar sealing tags stood in front of him next to the raven-haired one, whose eyes still maintained the blood-red shade and black _tomoe_ marks of the Uchiha clan's coveted bloodline inheritance: the Sharingan Mirror-Wheel Eyes.

The girl with indigo hair—whom the old man recognized as a member of the prestigious Hyuga clan—stood some ways away, her attention elsewhere and her Byakugan still active. Apparently, she was this trio's lookout.

Dimly, the man had to inwardly congratulate his captors for their efficient victory in the previous encounter, but it changed nothing. He needed neither hand-signs nor freedom of movement to turn the key for good—

"Don't look so mutinous, old man. We're not going to kill you and we're not taking you anywhere against your will," the red-haired boy said.

—and the old man, surprised, stopped that train of thought before following through.

"What do you intend to do with me, then, boy?" the old man spat, but it was the Uchiha raven-hair who answered.

"Let you go," he said—simply, coldly. "On one condition: we want you to deliver a message to your village."

"Intimidation is wasted on me, child," the old man responded.

"Whether or not you fear us is beside the point," said the Uchiha. "You _will _deliver this message."

"It kind of explains why your spy fucked up her mission, you see," said the red-haired boy nonchalantly.

That gave the old man pause. The two boys remained silent for a moment, and when it was clear that the old man intended to say nothing until they did, the Uchiha spoke again:

"It was a clever trick," he said, "one, in fact, that we almost fell for. Could any of us have imagined that such a technique could exist? To read one's mind by way of simple eye contact, and even to read the minds of those who intrude on your own... if we were any other village, we would have handed Hanare-san over to you with no qualms at all, and been none the wiser."

The Uchiha had closed his eyes as he spoke, but now, he began to slowly open them.

"But we are _not—_" he said coldly, "'any other village.' We are the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and we boast the most powerful shinobi clans in all of the Five Great Nations. Surely, when you schemed to infiltrate our lands, you must have considered the risk that your spy would catch the eye of an Uchiha?"

"The Uchiha clan," the old man rasped, "was massacred, _years_ ago—"

"The Uchiha live on," the boy growled, eyes turning harsh and hateful. "So long as even one of us remains among the living, the vigilant gaze of the Sharingan will ever be the ally of the shinobi clans of _Konohagakure_. Our eyes see through all—ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu... all of your techniques are useless before these eyes. Remember that, fool—and tell your leaders to think twice before letting their secrets walk right into our midst where these eyes can so easily steal them."

The color immediately drained from the old man's face. "You—Hanare—"

"Our sensei should be taking care of Hanare-san now, if he hasn't already," the red-haired boy said in a bored tone of voice, twisting his pinky-finger inside one ear as he spoke. "We'll leave you guys a body, you know, so you can honor your dead in whatever way you see fit, but we'll have to keep the head. It's grisly, I know, but she _did _manage to steal quite a lot of info before we caught her and we just can't take the risk that you have some super-secret technique that allows you to read the minds of dead bodies! I'm sure you understand. But she is—was—an admirable shinobi. It was just bad luck that she got sent on a mission she had no hope of completing. So as a request from one shinobi to another, give her an honored burial. For me? Pretty-please?"

The old man gritted his teeth in anger, but before he could speak, the Uchiha cut him off.

"What becomes of the spy is none of our concern." The Uchiha shot a cold, uncaring look at his whimsical companion. "Tell your shinobi leaders why this plan of yours failed, and give them this message: _Never cross the Hidden Leaf again._ Ever."

"We'll flatten you in more ways than one if you do!" the red-haired boy put in cheerfully. "Right, so, Hina-chan, if you would?"

The indigo-haired girl turned smoothly around and approached the old man, who glared back in defiance.

She said one word as she pressed a single finger to the center of his forehead: "Sleep." The old man felt a carefully-directed pulse of chakra from that one gentle fingertip, and consciousness left him.

**~V~**

"He'll be out for an hour or more," Hinata declared with confidence.

"And the others?" Naruto inquired.

"Ibiki-san's team made short work of the other Lock ninja, and are awaiting our return by the bridge. Kakashi-sensei and Hanare-san are beyond my range of vision, though..."

"Well, then—mission accomplished!" said Naruto. Glancing at Sasuke, he said: "The Uchiha clan arrogance was a nice touch."

"I thought so," Sasuke admitted.

**~V~**

_**Sunday – 12:40 PM – Back in the Present**_

"While Sasuke and I were busy playing 'Good Cop, Bad Cop' with the old man," said Naruto, "Kakashi-sensei and Hanare were putting enough distance between us and them that they could return to Konoha in disguise, separately from the rest of us—to avoid arousing suspicion. In the days leading up to the mission, the medical corps used one of the bandit corpses they had in preservation to make a fake Hanare—and here's a fun little fact: it was actually made using the corpse of Hina-chan's first kill, who coincidentally matched Hanare's age, body-type, build, and even hair color pretty closely. Kakashi had it with him in a containment scroll, and it was just a matter of maiming it convincingly and making sure Ibiki-san retrieved the head. Ibiki-san's team made sure to leave at least one of the enemies unconscious, so that when they woke up they could accompany the old guy back to Jomae."

Anko let out a low whistle. "Simple plan, but good. We shouldn't have to worry about any trouble from the Land of Keys for a while now, if the corpse and the threats fooled them. Whose idea was it to give them the impression that we found out using the Sharingan?"

"That was Kakashi-sensei's idea," said Naruto. "Once Hanare explained the basics of what her mind-reading technique actually was, it seemed logical enough. The Sharingan actually _could _track the movements of her eye when she used it, and sensei was even able to copy the technique and use it on himself—which confirms that Hanare might be able to teach it to others. The Hokage wants her to teach it to Yamanaka-san and Ibiki-san; after that, the bargain will be done and she'll be free to live as she sees fit as long as she remains under Konoha supervision. Obviously, this might cause some trouble with Jomae Village if the truth were to get out, so the details of the mission have been classified as an A-rank secret."

Anko nodded. "I gotta say, bratface," she said. "For a snot-nosed, wet-behind-the-ears rookie fresh from the Academy, you and your team are doing pretty well for yourselves. Between this and the way you beat Kakashi..."

"You heard about _that_, too?" Naruto sighed.

Anko snorted. "I think Kakashi forgot I'm friends with Yuhi-chan when he decided to brag to the other instructors about how kickass his team was. Soon as I mentioned you were laid up in the hospital a while back, she couldn't resist telling the story—and can you blame her?"

Naruto scratched at his whisker-mark. "Not really, no."

"Well, then!" Anko declared, springing to her feet and stretching away the stiffness in her legs. "It's past noon and Anko's a-hungry. You up for some dango, bratface?"

"It's been a while since I've had some," the boy said, hopping off the countertop. "And I was kinda hoping to talk to you about something, anyway. Kakashi-sensei tells me you're one of the people I can talk to if I'm interested in, say, learning the Art of Summoning...?"

"Summoning? _Kuchiyose no Jutsu?"_ Anko echoed, sounding uncomfortable. "I guess I could... well, yeah, I can teach you how to... but I have... well, you might want to ask someone else, if you care about your reputation at all—"

Naruto gave her a dry look that just said, _Really, Anko?_

"...Oh, right. Your rep's already down the shitter, isn't it?" Anko chuckled. "But you still might want to ask someone else."

Naruto quirked his head to one side. "Why d'you keep telling me that I should ask someone else? If you don't want to teach me, you can just say so."

"That's not it," muttered Anko, scratching at one particular spot at the back of her neck. "It's just that I have a contract with the summoning snakes, and—"

Naruto's expression suddenly brightened. "Summoning snakes? Why would that be a problem? Actually, that sounds like the kind of summoning contract I'm looking for! Snakes could be used for tracking, sneak attacks, recon, combat, a whole bunch of things..."

Anko blinked. "Wait, back up. You actually... _like_ the idea of summoning snakes?"

"Why wouldn't I? Snakes are awesome."

Anko just stared at the boy for a few seconds. Then, her face split into a wide grin.

"Alright, bratface," she said. "I'll train you in the Art of Summoning... but not yet. After lunch. I needs my dango. And it's your treat, or no snakes. Deal?"

"Deal," said Naruto, without hesitation.

_B-ranks pay pretty well, anyway, _he thought. _I think I have more money in my pocket right now than I've had on me in my whole life..._

Naruto, of course, would come to learn the hard way just how much dango this crazy snake lady could eat in one sitting when she wasn't fronting the bill. Still, in the end—after the incident in the Land of Whirlpools—he would come to realize that his decision to master the Art of Summoning had been worth every last penny he paid and more.

**~V~**

**Author's Note:** Well, I can't say I'm one hundred percent satisfied with the way the Hanare Arc turned out, but this is the way it came out and this is the way it happened. Actually, it's not entirely accurate to say this arc is "over," as it kind of bleeds into the next arc during the next few chapters, where Naruto's skillset will be developing a bit more before the story arc this chapter hints at (the "incident in the Land of Whirlpools"). What becomes of Hanare, and the question of how it will effect the story in the long run, will be expanded on in upcoming chapters.

Also, snakes! Yes, Naruto will not be signing a contract with the toads this time around (but someone else will...), so Sage Mode is actually out of the picture completely. Wondering how this will affect the Pain arc? Tough. That's not for another, like, fucking forever.

Sorry for the delay, by the way—I was busy playing _Sonic Generations_ to death. Excellent game. Short, some of the optional missions blow ass, and the final boss is a piece of shit visual clusterfuck, but it's fun. If you look into it, get it for the PC if you have the hardware for it. By far the definitive version, and it's cheaper on Steam anyway.


	21. XX: Mistakes

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is a _Shonen Jump _publication written by Masashi Kishimoto. I am neither _Shonen Jump_ nor Masashi Kishimoto. If that doesn't say it all, I pity you for your lack of perceptive prowess, and strongly advise that you _not _pursue the way of the ninja.

**~V~**

**- Chapter Twenty -  
>"Mistakes"<strong>

**~V~**

Hanare sighed, glanced uneasily up at the ceiling, and fidgeted with her skirt a little bit. She had to consciously resist the nervous urge to stand up and pace around the guest room in the Hokage Tower.

It was eight twenty-three in the morning on Tuesday—in a matter of hours it would be exactly a week since she'd first walked through the southern gateway to _Konohagakure no Sato_, and despite her resolve in going through with this arrangement (part of her still felt... dirty... for deserting her village like this), she felt like she was walking on eggshells in this place. She knew that of the few Konoha shinobi she'd encountered who had been briefed on her situation, very few actually trusted her. She supposed she couldn't blame them. To get where she was now, she had essentially sold out the Hidden Lock Village—she herself would be hesitant to trust a shinobi who had already proven themselves untrustworthy in the past, whether she was the one they'd betrayed or not. And it didn't help matters that she happened to know how to read minds via eye contact... most of the ninja she'd come in contact with over the past few days had very pointedly only looked her in the ear, or the chest, or the forehead at best, if they looked at her for more than a few seconds at all. It was something she'd have to let time wear away at, she supposed.

Fortunately, the secret would be dispensed only to Jonin-level shinobi, members of the ANBU Black Ops, and ninja with whom Hanare would come into direct contact. (As a matter of little consequence, Anko Mitarashi herself had been "officially" briefed on the situation less than half an hour after she and Naruto parted ways the day before.) The civilian populace would be blissfully unaware of the former spy's underhanded past, and if there was ever an upside to having been trained almost exclusively as a spy, it was that Hanare was in no way lacking job skills. All in all, she thought, the prospects that awaited her as a civilian citizen of the Village Hidden in the Leaves were brighter than anything she'd ever had to look forward to in Jomae, whether the village's ninja trusted her or not.

_And even if the entire village were against me... I still have..._

She already had friends in this village—Naruto Uzumaki being the first to come to mind. Naruto, who was almost single-handedly responsible for this new start at life. Somewhere in the back of her mind, though she knew Naruto would never accept any kind of repayment anyway, Hanare wanted to do something for the boy to show how much she appreciated the kindness he'd showed her... that she had witnessed almost first-hand the hard life he'd lived because of that abomination sealed within him only heightened this desire.

Ibiki Morino and Inoichi Yamanaka were friends she had honestly never expected to make, but as it happened, the two of them were quite pleasant to be around when they weren't in "all-business mode." The warm smile on the face of that scar-faced devil when he'd greeted her at the start of his first Ocular Mind-Reading training session, in particular, had been so surreal that she'd been inclined to think it was some sort of genjutsu.

And then there was the man she hoped would accept her as something more than a friend...

Two knocks at her door snapped her out of her thoughts, and she stood—almost "jumped"—to her feet. "Kakashi-kun, is that you?" she called as she walked to the door.

When she opened it, the masked Jonin with the silver hair and cock-eyed headband raised a lazy hand in greeting and said, "Yep." With the majority of his face concealed behind his mask, he seemed to be smiling with his exposed eye.

Hanare smiled back, forcing her nerves to the back of her mind—another perk of having been trained as a spy... particularly the part where that involved seduction missions... was that when push came to shove, she had no trouble overcoming any sort of unease or reluctance when it came to men. It occurred to her that this was the first time she'd made use of that perk for her own personal reasons. Somehow, that revelation felt... satisfying. Freeing.

"Thank you for agreeing to show me around," she said. "I don't think shopping for an apartment would be any fun if I had some suspicious supervisor breathing down my neck the whole time."

Kakashi shrugged the thanks off, a nonverbal _it's nothing_ response, and said, "So, did you have anything in particular in mind?"

"I'd like to find a place close to Naruto's home, if possible... and if you don't mind, close to yours," Hanare said, unable to stop a faint pink tinge from creeping onto her face at the second admission.

"Well, Naruto and I don't live very far apart, but he does live on the poorer side of town," Kakashi said, ushering her through the door. "You may not like the accommodations available in the area."

"I was raised in a cave with nothing more comfortable than a cot for furniture," Hanare replied with a light smile. "Even the cheapest apartments this town has to offer would be a step up from that."

The two walked at a leisurely pace down the hallway of the Hokage Residence as they spoke. From the dull light filtering in through the windows, Hanare guessed the sky was clouded over at the moment.

"What was it like?" Kakashi asked after a few moments of silence. "If you don't mind telling me about it?"

"I don't mind," she said. "We... were all taken at birth from our clans in the village, so I don't remember who my parents were or what they looked like. The caretaker in charge of me was actually the elderly shinobi who met up with us on the bridge during the hostage exchange—from the sound of it, Naruto might actually have saved his life that day, it's almost kind of funny... he was a real hardcase, you could say. Very no-nonsense, give-your-life-and-your-all-for-your-village kind of man. There wasn't any nurturing or encouragement to be found in that place. You either toughened up or you broke completely."

"Hm," Kakashi thought. "There were times when shinobi training in our village had to be similarly harsh, but that was only ever during times of war, or times when war seemed to be around the corner. Even then, Konoha values have always emphasized the idea that we should all regard each other as family. Was there no such sentiment among the Lock Ninja?"

"I don't know what it's like for the ninja of the village itself," Hanare said. "We spies were trained as a kind of underground society, and they emphasized the need to bury our emotions. For the profession, I understand it was necessary, but it was... hard. Especially for me. When I was younger, my instructors would often berate me for crying or trying to seek companionship amongst my fellows."

_An underground society,_ Kakashi mused. _That sounds almost like Danzo's ROOT division..._

"On some level I understand why it was necessary," Hanare said evenly, almost harshly. "The Land of Keys survives almost exclusively on the espionage skills of its ninja. I recall hearing rumors during my previous missions that even the Land of Earth sometimes commissioned Jomae for espionage missions, particularly when they didn't want to risk their own shinobi getting caught spying on lands that could muster the clout to demand reparations..."

"Did you ever work for Iwa?" Kakashi asked.

"No, not me. Our division was more like... I suppose you can compare it to Konoha's ANBU. We completed missions at the behest of the village leaders, and no one else. I think it was the ninja of the village itself who would handle the commission work, but again, I've never been exposed to the village. So that's just guesswork on my part."

"Well, all in all, I can't blame you for deciding to take the Third Lord's offer," Kakashi said. "I believe loyalty in the face of one's emotions to be a vital part of a ninja's life, but... it's because I feel so strongly about the village in the first place that I'm loyal to it at all."

Hanare looked over to Kakashi, who was gazing thoughtfully up at the ceiling as the two strolled down the stairs to ground level.

"The masters back home..." she said, pronouncing the last word uneasily—as if the intent and the word itself didn't mesh at all in her mind, "always emphasized loyalty as a form of self-sacrifice. One of the first lessons they drilled into us was that we should take pride in our service to the Land of Keys in spite of its distance from us."

Kakashi sighed. "The Shinobi Rules of Conduct in their barest form," he said. "Ninja as tools for their village, and nothing more. Many villages take that ideal too far."

"Hmm..." Hanare agreed softly.

"There was a time, when I was younger," Kakashi admitted guiltily, "when I would have agreed with them."

"You? Really?" Hanare said, her disbelief evident.

Kakashi nodded a farewell to the receptionist as he led Hanare through the lobby of the Hokage Tower and then down the set of stairs that connected the business wing of the Tower to the outside world.

"Yes," Kakashi said uncomfortably. "I was young, immature, and my father... well..."

"You don't have to talk about it if it makes you uncomfortable," Hanare assured him, but he brushed it off with a light wave.

"No, it's fine," Kakashi said. "Besides, you've confided more than enough in me, so if you're willing to listen to my story, I'm willing to talk about it."

Hanare then said, "You can tell me anything, Kakashi-kun."

Kakashi considered that statement for several seconds.

"My father was the White Fang of Konoha," he said bluntly.

"You must have been proud to have such a distinguished ninja for a father," Hanare said.

"On the contrary," chuckled Kakashi darkly. "I was ashamed."

"Ashamed?" Hanare exclaimed incredulously. "Whyever would you be ashamed of that?"

"Because the circumstances surrounding the White Fang's death aren't widely known," Kakashi said. "Here in Konoha, however, he died in disgrace... because he abandoned his mission in order to save the lives of his comrades."

Hanare, who had been raised among the most covert operatives in Jomae, knew better than most just what that sort of betrayal might mean to one's fellows. If she had ever done such a thing on one of her own missions...

"He succeeded in saving them," Kakashi said. "But the price was the mission, and his honor. Even the comrades he saved shunned him after that. So father entered a state of deep depression. He turned to drink... eventually, he died. And me, his son? I looked on my father after his death with the same scorn as everyone else."

Hanare wanted to reach out and place a comforting hand on Kakashi's shoulder as he spoke, but she only turned a sympathetic eye on him instead. Kakashi was watching the clouds as he walked. The two of them continued down Konoha's main street, and when Kakashi turned a corner, Hanare turned with him. At this point, her hunt for a place of residence was nearly forgotten.

"Over time, that scorn became an almost unbending dedication to rules and regulations," Kakashi said. "I swore to myself that I would be the shinobi that my father failed to be. So for a time, the mission was the only thing that mattered..."

Kakashi turned his eye to Hanare, and said: "Then I was assigned to a team, under the command of Minato Namikaze, the man who would go on to become this village's Fourth Hokage."

Hanare turned her eyes back to Kakashi, registering surprise. "You were taught by Naruto-kun's fa...?"

Hanare caught herself, glancing around nervously, but the street they were on was relatively deserted.

"You know about Naruto's lineage?" Kakashi said with a frown. "I thought you said you'd purged the information you took from Inoichi."

"I did," Hanare said. "This isn't something I learned from Inoichi, it's... something I learned from Naruto-kun."

"Naruto knows? Who told him?" Kakashi asked.

"I don't know if anyone told him," Hanare replied. "He just... knows. It was in his mind. I think he might have just figured it out on his own."

"The resemblance _is _pretty striking..." Kakashi murmured, mostly to himself. When he considered it, he supposed he shouldn't be surprised. Naruto, especially in this past week, had proven himself to be both observant and intelligent, and even if he weren't, it would probably become bloody fucking obvious to anyone with half a brain and an ounce of familiarity with the Fourth Lord within a few more years.

"I need to have a talk with Naruto later," Kakashi sighed.

"Yes, you do," Hanare said, almost with the air of an insistent wife. "If you were close to his father... that boy needs to know he has people who care about him, Kakashi-kun."

"I know," Kakashi admitted. "The Third intended to tell him of his heritage when he either came of age or attained the rank of Jonin, but this is sensitive information, Hanare. Minato-sensei, he had a lot of enemies, particularly—"

"—in _Iwagakure no Sato_, the Village Hidden in the Stones," Hanare finished as if reciting a line from a history textbook. "I know. Konoha's 'Yellow Flash' is well-known, and part of my training as a spy was to familiarize myself with the histories and political relationships of the various nations. I won't speak of it to anyone, you just... surprised me. What of your team, though?"

"My team," Kakashi echoed, and his tone said he almost regretted the return to the main subject. "Two people who are still very dear to my heart. Both of them eventually died during the Third Shinobi World War. One of them was a kunoichi, Rin Norita, a talented medical ninja whose skill was nearly such that she would have been known as a genius in the field if she'd had the time to develop further. She had feelings for me, and I knew that. I was too dedicated to the 'job' to care."

The longer Kakashi spoke, the more he sounded as if he were scolding himself. The two were walking down a familiar road now, and Hanare realized it was the same road down which they'd traveled on the way to the park a week before, on the day she'd confessed her feelings... and met Naruto.

"Then there was Obito Uchiha," said Kakashi. "A member of a prestigious clan, yet something of a misfit. His grades had been the lowest amongst all of his classmates, whereas mine were the highest. And in a clan who so prided themselves on their infamous ocular _kekkei genkai_, a shinobi with a detrimental eye condition was particularly frowned upon. He had to wear goggles because his eyes would dry out if exposed to the wind, and he constantly had to use eye-drops, even during missions. On top of that, he was a crybaby, and he was always making stupid excuses for showing up late."

"That sounds familiar," Hanare noted. Kakashi answered with a snort and a shake of his head.

Kakashi glanced at Hanare and said, "He also had a crush on Rin. Between that and the difference between our skill levels, he looked at me as something of a rival. So as you can imagine, our team dynamics were a bit on the dysfunctional side for a while. Fortunately, we had an excellent sensei who was able to whip our team into a cohesive, cooperative unit, but our personal differences persisted for years."

Hanare asked softly: "What happened? What changed?"

"The Third Shinobi World War happened," Kakashi said simply. "And we, as Minato-sensei's team, we'd distinguished ourselves quite a bit by then. I myself was regarded as something of a genius, and to tell you the truth, I was definitely full of myself because of it. I graduated from the Academy at the age of five and made Chunin when I was six... perhaps, even for a 'genius,' I was too young not to let my accomplishments go to my head."

"Achieving the rank of Jonin during the war certainly did nothing to help that," he added. "But on the first mission that sensei trusted me to lead, I made the first real mistake in my life. To this day, it's one that I haven't been able to forgive myself for."

Hanare said: "What... mistake?"

"We were ambushed during our mission, and Rin was taken by the enemy," said Kakashi. "Obito insisted we rescue her. I argued that our mission was vital. As the team leader, _I _chose to abandon Rin for the sake of the mission. Obito refused, and so we went our separate ways."

Hanare's eyes were sad; Kakashi's eye was self-loathing, focused on the ground at his feet.

"But before we parted, Obito told me something," Kakashi said. "He said he believed that the White Fang was a true hero. He also told me that in the ninja world, while those who disobey the rules are trash, those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash. The idea wouldn't leave me alone, so eventually I... turned back, and went after him."

"You changed your mind in the end, right?" Hanare said. "Maybe you were wrong at first, but—"

"That's what cost us so much," Kakashi said. "Obito was on his own because _I _insisted on going through with the mission. If I'd went with him from the start, he might still be alive right now."

Hanare frowned, not sure what to say to that.

"I showed up in time to join in the fight," Kakashi said. "But in the ensuing struggle, just after Obito managed to at last awaken the Sharingan—you know, he'd been telling me for months that he'd surpass me once he unlocked that power, and of course, I'd always scoffed at that... we managed to get to Rin, and free her from the enemy's genjutsu, but during the escape the enemy collapsed the cave on us."

Hanare covered her mouth. She knew where this was going.

"Rin and I made it out," Kakashi said. "But Obito was caught in the cave-in. So he was pinned beneath the rocks, fatally wounded, as we at last became friends... and he died there."

Kakashi reached up to his face and tipped up his headband, turning both of his eyes on Hanare. Hanare was mesmerized, almost literally, by the sight of the eye in that left socket: blood-red in color, it bore a trio of black _tomoe_ marks around the pupil. A long, thin scar ran vertically down his face, directly through his Sharingan eye.

"I lost my eye during the fight," Kakashi said. "As he lay dying, Obito told me that because he hadn't given me a gift to celebrate my promotion, he wanted me to take his eye. He asked Rin to perform an on-the-spot operation to transplant it into my own eye socket. She complied. Sometimes I still wonder what was going through her mind at the time, and how she kept herself together well enough to perform an eye surgery while her comrade lay dying underneath a ton of boulders. Sometimes I think I'd have nightmares if I knew the answer to that question."

Hanare reached out a hand and, hesitantly, put it on the man's shoulder. Kakashi sighed, pulled his headband back down, and said, "After that mission... which we did actually accomplish... I eventually became known as 'Kakashi of the Sharingan' across all five of the great nations. I'm known and feared as the Copycat Ninja, who acquired and managed to duplicate over a thousand techniques. In Konoha, I'm known as a genius and sometimes a hero. In some of the other villages, they feared me to the point where they'd given their ninja orders to kill me on sight. Obito Uchiha died in obscurity; the only acknowledgment of his contribution, as far as I know, is on the memorial stone near the training ground where our village's traditional teamwork exercise, the 'bell test,' takes place."

"Kakashi-kun..." Hanare said softly. "It still hurts you this much?"

"This, and all the other friends I've lost in the time since," Kakashi admitted. "Obito's death was one I blamed myself for, but I thought I could make it up to him by protecting Rin. By the end of the war, though, she was dead, as well."

"Did you... love her?" Hanare asked. A moment later, she forced back a wince, hoping the question wasn't too sensitive.

"Honestly, I never had time to sort out whether or not I could return her feelings for me," said Kakashi. "When Obito died, I told her how he felt. She tried to tell me how she felt about me, but I shut her down before she could finish. I told her, 'I was once the kind of trash that would have abandoned you.' I... couldn't work up the courage to find out whether she forgave me for that. And with the war going on, there wasn't really much time for personal matters."

Hanare squeezed lightly at his shoulder, then let her hand drift back to her side.

"Minato-sensei helped me out of my depression after the war," said Kakashi. "But eventually, I lost him, too."

"You still have his son," Hanare said. "And the village your sensei gave his life to save."

Kakashi smiled beneath his mask. "Yes, that I do. Sensei, he... I remember when he told me that he was going to be a father. I'd never seen him so happy before. When he died, I withdrew into my own little world, lost myself in my work. Naruto's... godfather—"

"Jiraiya of the Sannin, right?" Hanare said gently. Kakashi looked up in alarm.

"Does Naruto know that, too?" he asked. "How?"

"His favorite book," answered Hanare with a smile. "Back when he first found it, he might have chalked the name of the main character up to coincidence, but..."

"Once he figured out who his father was, knowing that his father's teacher wrote a book starring a character named 'Naruto' makes the next step an obvious one," Kakashi sighed. "Why do I get the feeling that he might just be a little too smart for his own good?"

Hanare laughed, and then said, "Go on. What about his godfather?"

"Jiraiya-sama... pushed his godfather duties off on me," Kakashi said sheepishly. "But for my part, I was too mired in my own grief at the time to want anything to do with it. I, along with the other ninja of my generation, we were all held back from fighting the Nine-Tails, so I was nowhere near the battlefield when sensei... you know. It was, for me, the last straw. The last of my precious comrades had been killed while I could do nothing to stop it. So you could say I ran away from my duty. I pushed Naruto out of my mind. On some level, I think I was fooling myself into thinking that Hokage-sama would take care of him well enough without me."

Hanare winced, and said, "I know it must hurt to hear this said aloud, Kakashi-kun, but... I imagine your loved ones wouldn't like to know that your grief caused you to make yet more mistakes."

Kakashi let out a frustrated breath and whispered, "Yeah, I know. I only thank whatever gods might be listening that Naruto grew up the way he has in spite of it all."

"So make it up to them," Hanare advised, "by being there for Naruto-kun now."

"I intend to," Kakashi said.

Hanare's mouth twitched upward in a small grin as she said, "You can start by showing up on time from now on."

Kakashi laughed and said, "I'll have to sleep on it first, but... maybe I will."

They walked on in silence after that, until they reached the first of the apartment buildings in the general area in which Hanare wanted to make a home. The first she dismissed as too pricey, for she didn't want to impose on the Hokage (who would be covering her living expenses until she found herself a job) more than was necessary, but Kakashi thought it was because she wanted to live nearer to where Naruto was. Kakashi had no idea exactly what she'd seen when she'd looked the boy in the eye and seen his life flash before her own eyes, but whatever it was, it was clear to him that she felt a strong need to support him.

As they left that first building, Hanare slipped her hand into his—hesitantly, but at the same time with a sense of certainty. Kakashi, for his part, was grateful to her for listening to his story. He wasn't sure, exactly, why he'd chosen to tell it—in retrospect, it was probably the most impulsive thing he'd done since he'd resigned from ANBU and decided to take on a squad of Genin. But he felt better about it, now.

Talking about it had made it all feel a little less heavy.

**~V~**

**Author's Note: **I hadn't actually intended to focus this chapter on Kakashi and Hanare, but my original chapter (which was essentially a training episode) just didn't interest me all that much, so I did this instead. I did feel like the Hanare arc was missing a resolution on their end, too. So here it is, the last chapter of the Hanare arc. For real this time. (No, seriously.)

**Author's Note #2:** Alright, because obviously some of you didn't read the previous Author's Note on the subject, I'll spell it out. Hanare is NOT an original character! She is a character taken from one of the filler arcs in the _Naruto Shippuden _anime, namely a one-episode flashback story that takes place at some point before the Chunin Exams (Sakura still has long hair). The Hanare arc is based on this episode, and although that episode was undeniably filler, _this_ arc is actually quite important to the grand scheme of this fanfic.

Right, now that we've cleared the air about that, I welcome your opinions (both positive and negative). Just stop saying that Hanare is some kind of OC. Because she's not.


	22. XXI: A Picture of the Past

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is a _Shonen Jump _publication written by Masashi Kishimoto. I am neither _Shonen Jump_ nor Masashi Kishimoto. If that doesn't say it all, I pity you for your lack of perceptive prowess, and strongly advise that you _not _pursue the way of the ninja.

**~V~**

**- Chapter Twenty-One -  
>"A Picture of the Past"<strong>

**~V~**

"—Oh, did you hear? Dan _finally _asked 'Buki-chan out! She's been waiting _forever_, I kept telling her she should give up and find someone else—"

"—pirate attacks in the Whirlpool area, apparently. That's the rumor anyway. Little girl washed ashore on a lifeboat near the Land of Waves, managed to attract a passing ship with smoke signals. When they asked how she got there, she went off about a storm and a ghost ship. They say she has severe post-traumatic stress disorder, no telling _how _much of what she said is true—"

"—caught some pervy Genin peeking on me at the onsen yesterday! Can't believe the nerve of that guy—"

Naruto, having mastered (more or less) the art of enhancing his sense of smell by channeling chakra into his nose, had now moved on to the next step in making himself fundamentally un-sneak-attack-able. Actually, he'd wanted to spend his days off this week practicing the Summoning Technique with Anko, but she had been called away on a mission the previous night and had expressly _forbidden _him from practicing the technique without her supervision...

**~V~**

"_There any particular reason for that, boss?" Naruto asked, quirking his head to one side. He tried to keep the irritation from showing through in his voice, and only partly succeeded. He was a Genin now, after all, it wasn't like he was completely incompetent, and yeah, Summoning took quite a bit of chakra, but he was as capable as the next guy of gauging his reserves to avoid landing himself in the hospital..._

"_Yeah, there _is _a particular reason for that, bratface," Anko shot back, and clicked her tongue in irritation. "Okay, look, this is a rule that applies to most summoning contracts, not just snakes, but in the case of snakes you really have to watch out for it. Now, suppose for a moment that while you're practicing, you mess up your chakra control and summon a really big, or really poisonous, or really big _and _poisonous snake. Suppose that snake doesn't feel up to taking orders that day. If you're alone, you could wind up getting crushed, squeezed, eaten, poisoned, or in less-fussy terms, _dead._"_

"_...Ah," said the red-haired boy, sobering up. "But if you're here when I do that, those snakes would be inclined to back off if you order them to, that about right?"_

"_Most of 'em. Some of them don't like taking orders from me, either, in which case you'd need me to help put 'em down. I can guarantee you won't be able to fight off any of the larger snakes at _your _current skill level, bratface, so don't even try it. And another thing..."_

_Anko glanced around the training field she'd selected for this particular technique, which was a large, open flatland patch. When she was satisfied that no one was listening in, she continued:_

"_...Normally, bratface, I wouldn't have to worry about this with a kid like you, but I think we've already established that you've got a lot more chakra than your average Academy graduate. There's one snake—one particularly BIG, and NASTY snake—that I am hereby, unconditionally, irrevocably _forbidding _you to ever, ever summon. This is vital, so listen up."_

"_I am _nothing_ if not attentive," Naruto said airily. Then, seriously: "Which snake, and how do I know whether or not I'm summoning that specific one?"_

"_Well, he's the hardest one to summon, so it's not hard to keep yourself from doing it," Anko said. "He's what you'd call the 'big cheese' of the summoning snakes, what is often referred to as a 'Boss Summon.' His name is 'Manda.' I can tell you right now that your personal chakra hasn't developed enough to call him yet, so this warning only ever applies to you if you're using your _other _chakra."_

"_You told me not to use that in the first place," Naruto said, but Anko waved him off._

"_Yeah, yeah, but you never know what might happen, right? You could lose _control_, you might have no _choice _at the time—my point is, _you _don't have enough chakra to summon Manda, but you can bet your _ass_ that the Nine-Tails does. Don't summon anything with the Fox's chakra, not unless you're sure you know what you're doing! If you accidentally summon Manda, that might be as bad as letting the Nine-Tails itself out to play."_

"_Is Manda really that powerful?"_

"_No, no, not _that _powerful, but trust me, he's bad news," Anko insisted. "The only person I've ever seen him take orders from is... look, he only takes orders if he thinks you're powerful enough to take him on, and as good as I am, _I _can't do that. Not even close. And even _if _he follows your orders, he's bound to demand payment in exchange."_

"_What sort of payment would a giant monster snake accept?"_

"_Food," Anko said simply, and then with a grim smirk: "Keep in mind that the snake in question is the size of a small castle, and make of that what you will."_

_As he considered the implications, Naruto gulped in spite of himself. _

**~V~**

So, with a certain degree of reluctance, Naruto held off on practicing _Kuchiyose no Jutsu_, since he'd need Anko to help him learn how to mold his chakra and focus his intentions precisely enough to summon exactly the snakes he intended to use in a given situation. So far, he'd only managed to summon baby snakes and a couple of ordinary grass snakes that were incapable of speech. He'd been a bit discouraged by this lack of progress, but Anko had said that he was progressing a bit faster than she had when she'd learned the technique.

Still, there would be no Summoning until Anko returned from her mission—which she'd said was likely to last a couple of weeks. When pressed for details about the specifics of the mission, she would only say that it was an assassination gig in one of the Land of Fire's smaller, neighboring nations, and that it would probably be child's play for her.

Naruto had wanted to practice his puppetmaster technique in the meantime, but he seemed to have hit a plateau of sorts—no matter how long or hard he practiced, he no longer seemed to gain any ground when it came to producing or maintaining his chakra threads. As frustrating as this was, it all came down to chakra control. Maybe he just didn't have good enough control yet. Next time he saw Kakashi, he'd have to ask about advanced chakra-control training...

For the moment, he'd decided to shelve the Art of the Puppetmaster and make due with what progress he'd made until he'd improved his control and mastered a few more techniques. Chakra threads were, even with his current lack of mastery over them, proving to be just as useful as he'd expected them to be. His most recent spar with Sasuke had been an interesting experiment. It'd been a good year and a half since the last time Naruto Uzumaki had actually beaten Sasuke Uchiha in a spar, but he'd come closer than he'd managed in a long while the previous day.

Naruto was looking forward to their next official training day with Kakashi—their sensei had given them a heads-up after the mission that weekend, saying that they'd be experimenting with elemental techniques for the first time. He had stressed that he had no idea if any of them save Sasuke was even capable of it, so they'd only be "testing the waters" at first.

That wouldn't be for a few days yet, as Kakashi had given the team their first one-week vacation period, of which all Genin teams were permitted three a year at the discretion of their Jonin instructors. Naruto suspected that Kakashi had done this so he would have the free time to help Hanare get acclimatized to her new situation (and he was right; earlier that same day, Kakashi and Hanare had been out apartment-shopping). Naruto would have loved to spend his free time with Sasuke and Hinata in the meantime, but Hinata had been wrangled into a family dinner with her clan—one of her many cousins celebrating a particularly significant birthday—and Sasuke was practicing his fire techniques at the moment.

That might not seem at first glance to be a good reason for solitude, but Naruto respected his friends' privacy. The specific fire techniques that Sasuke was practicing were jutsu developed by the Uchiha Clan, so Sasuke was disinclined to share their inner workings even with his closest friends, and it wasn't as if Naruto had anything to _add_, the specifics of Fire Style jutsu were a complete mystery to him at this point.

_I wonder what my elemental affinity is?_

He supposed it wouldn't be too bad if he turned out to have an affinity for fire as well, but he wasn't especially keen on the element. It was all about power and burning things—while he could imagine a few interesting ways to use it if he twisted his brain particularly hard, most of those were purely situational ideas. On the other hand, water techniques tended to require actual bodies of water to work with unless the user was advanced enough to generate water with his own chakra... Naruto supposed he could carry some water in a sealing scroll to compensate, but again, too situational... higher potential number of options, though...

Then there was Earth. Now _that _was an element that Naruto could get behind. There was never a shortage of dirt, rock, or solid ground to work with, it was everywhere. There were very few situations in which an Earth-user would be deprived of the materials needed for their jutsu to be effective, and Earth Style techniques could range from offensive to defensive as well as to others—concealment, restraint, disruptive...

But what Naruto hoped for just a little more than Earth was Wind. That elemental affinity, unfortunately, was an unlikely one—in the Hidden Leaf Village, it was by far the rarest affinity found in its shinobi. Anko had mentioned that she knew of only one active shinobi with a wind affinity: Asuma Sarutobi, one of the other instructors in charge of the Genin from Naruto's year. This presented a twofold problem: it was unlikely that Naruto had this affinity in the first place, but in the unlikely event that he _did_, he would have a harder time than most finding someone capable of instructing him in the finer points of its use. Still, it was a tempting element. For combat at close-to-mid range, it was nearly unrivaled; it could be used defensively to great effect, especially as a defense against ranged weapons, and if used precisely enough could even act as an enhancement for one's own ranged-weapon attacks... and there was never any shortage of materials to use, for after all, in how many situations would a shinobi find themselves deprived of thin air?

The fifth elemental affinity, on the other hand, Naruto was unsure of. The overview on Lightning Style techniques he'd read about at the library had been sketchy at best. While the various uses detailed within were tempting, it seemed to be an especially chakra-intensive elemental transformation to achieve, since Lightning-users would have to rely on generating the element themselves more often than with any of the other four elements.

_I suppose with my chakra reserves that might be less of a problem than it'd be for others, but Wind Style still seems a bit more appealing to me..._

But there was no point in speculation. He'd find out what his elemental affinity was in a few days, and then he could take it from there. Not actually _having _a given affinity didn't necessarily mean he wouldn't be able to learn a few techniques of that element, it would just take more training, stricter control... as long as his affinity wasn't fundamentally incompatible with the techniques he wanted to learn...

"—Oh, look. It's _that._ I still can't believe they let _that thing _become a ninja—"

Naruto flinched, and for the second time that day reflexively cut off the flow of chakra to his eardrums. Then he mentally slapped himself, and, hesitantly, directed the chakra to his ears again, adjusted it—that took a few moments of intense concentration—until he could clearly hear everything being said around him again.

"—Letting that little menace walk our streets... you know my uncle, runs the clothing shop, got a warning from the Hokage last month—"

The cold, male voice that had been disparaging him was answered by that of a young woman: "A warning, what for?"

"Feh. He just added a little 'tax' to the fox-boy's bill whenever he bought something there."

"Well... that _is _a bit—"

"I say fair's fair! That _thing_ blew up the shop when it attacked, we had to re-build from scratch and everything! The building, our equipment, and all of our stock, just _gone_. Only fitting that the little devil pays us back in installments, right?"

"When you put it that way..."

_And _there's_ the downside..._ Naruto thought, letting out a frustrated sigh as he tried, in vain, to shift his focus away from that particular pair of pedestrians, but—

"—don't know how Teuchi Ichiraku can stand having that little devil in his shop all the time—"

The mention of Teuchi pulled Naruto's attention right on back, and what the man said next knocked the proverbial wind from Naruto's lungs:

"—I mean, he used to have this big restaurant, it was a nice place, remember? He lost _that _to the Nine-Tails, and he even saw the demon up close, nearly died! But he still lets the brat eat there all the time! Even told me off when I asked him about it, spouted some bullshit about that thing being a kid in a bad situation. Last time I ever eat _there_, that's for sure."

"But, Atsuo-kun, maybe he's not the same as—you know—"

Naruto stopped walking, and glanced over his shoulder at the pair who'd been talking. They were standing at a fruit vendor not far down the road now, quite a ways out of normal earshot, and even with enhanced hearing Naruto could only just barely hear them over the other sounds of the road now. Focusing his attention as hard as he could on this conversation, he casually turned around, making a face as though something in the stall he'd just passed had caught his eye, and strolled back to the vegetable vendor. He stopped short of it, however, not wanting to give the owner of that particular stall the impression that the "demon boy" was interested in his wares.

"What do you mean, not the same?" growled the man, Atsuo, who looked to be in his late teens or early twenties—and was most certainly a civilian. Brown hair, unremarkable in appearance. "You _know_ what he _is_, Misako!"

"That—yeah, I know 'what he is,' but still," the girl, an attractive young lady with dirty-blonde hair that hung to her waist, said, "I heard from my brother at the Academy—apparently one of the teachers there tried to steal an important scroll from the Hokage, and it was the Uzumaki boy who stopped him. A-and there's a rumor going around that he helped take down a spy from a foreign village last week, too—"

"Only because he's riding on the coat-tails of _real _ninja!" snarled Atsuo. "You know whose team he's on, right? Kakashi Hatake, one of the best ninja in the village, right on behind the Sannin on the short-list of potential successors for the seat of Hokage! I bet _he_ did all the work, and even if he didn't, he's got a Hyuga and the last of the Uchiha on his squad, too. It wouldn't make a difference if they had a farsighted squirrel on their team instead of the Uzumaki brat, with that line-up."

"Then how do you explain the incident with Mizuki?" Misako asked, sounding simultaneously argumentative and reluctant to argue at all—it occurred to Naruto at this point that he was witnessing a woman defending him from being slandered by _her own boyfriend_. A strange, uneasy feeling stirred in his chest, a tingling anxiety spreading over his shoulders, down his arms and toward his fingertips—

"Pff. More likely he was in _league_ with Mizuki and sold him out when it looked like they'd get caught!"

"Now you're just making up reasons to hate him," Misako said, in a smaller voice than before. "I mean—we don't know anything _about_ the boy, do we? Have you ever heard of him causing trouble for anyone?"

"My uncle got a warning from the Hokage because of him!"

"Your uncle got a warning from the Hokage because he was price-gouging, which is _illegal_," Misako snapped, somewhat waspishly.

"So you're taking the Uzumaki boy's side over mine?" Atsuo growled in a low, dangerous voice.

"M... maybe I am!" Misako said, but looked as if she regretted it instantly. Atsuo, rather than responding, shook his head with a look of disgust and stalked away, shooting Naruto a look of intense loathing as he passed. All of this Naruto watched from the corner of his eye, standing a comfortable distance away from the vegetable vendor. The various sundry banter and bustle of the street, he somehow managed to filter out more completely than he'd done before, but he was in no state of mind to congratulate himself for this accomplishment. He was focused on the young lady's reaction.

A number of emotions played across her face—guilt, regret, frustration—and then she looked directly at him. Naruto exercised enough tact to return her gaze with an oblivious, concerned look of his own, shooting a puzzled glance over his shoulder at Atsuo's retreating back a second later—to Misako, he looked ignorant, sympathetic, entirely unaware of what was causing the woman's distress. From his lessons on recon at the Academy, he knew this sort of act to be a basic way of appearing _not _to have overheard something or been watching someone; averting one's eyes quickly had a higher probability of alerting the object of one's attention _to _one's attention. To the young lady, Naruto appeared to have only looked up in response to Atsuo's irate departure, for surely he was too far away to have actually heard anything?

Misako wrung her hands, a picture of indecision, and just when Naruto thought she was on the verge of running after her male friend and recanting her defense of the "demon boy," she turned on her heel and stalked away in a huff... and in completely the opposite direction.

As Naruto resumed his aimless walk down the streets of the Hidden Leaf Village, listening in on the various grumblings and murmurings and chucklings and gossipings of its citizenry, he wasn't sure what to feel about the exchange... so, for the moment, he pushed it to the back of his mind and filed it away for future consideration.

Half a block later, however, he was interrupted again—this time by a member of the ANBU Black Ops, whose approach he heard from a distance. The light rustling of her black, hooded cloak drew his eye upward, and he saw her before she landed—deftly hopping right off a nearby rooftop to land next to Naruto in the wide berth the other pedestrians were giving him.

"Uzumaki-san," said the woman in the cat-patterned Black Ops mask. Beneath her hood, Naruto glimpsed what looked to be long, straight, dark-purple hair. "Hokage-sama requests your presence."

Her tone was unfamiliar and business-like, but blessedly devoid of the venom he had detected from the one or two ANBU whom he could remember speaking to him in his life—usually requesting that he report to the Hokage for some reason or another.

"I'll be right over, ANBU-san," Naruto replied. "Is he in the Tower, or is he elsewhere?"

"Hokage-sama awaits you in your apartment along with Kakashi-san," the ANBU woman said.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow. "At home, huh? ...Alright, I'll head right over. Thanks for letting me know."

"Cat" offered him a small nod and then formed a single hand-sign, vanishing in the swirl of leaves commonly used in the Konoha variation of _Shunshin no Jutsu_, the "Body Flicker Technique."

"I gotta learn how to do that," Naruto mumbled to himself as he turned, jogged into the nearest alley, and ran straight up a wall. Once on the rooftops, he was free—it was almost as though he could fly.

From one rooftop to the next he leapt, and leapt, making his way back to his cheap little apartment complex. How long had it been since Hiruzen Sarutobi had actually visited him at home? Three years, maybe more? The Hokage was a busy man, after all. He didn't often have time for small talk. What was this about? Something to do with Hanare, maybe...?

**~V~**

Kakashi let out an anxious breath, but outwardly he appeared more or less composed as he leaned against the kitchen counter in Naruto's apartment, eyes sliding across the pages of his prized copy of _Icha Icha Paradise_ without taking in the words. Sitting at the table with his wide-brimmed Hokage hat resting on the table in front of him, Hiruzen Sarutobi appeared perfectly calm and collected, although that might have been the relaxing effects of the pipe he was smoking. Kakashi suspected that the Third Lord's worries about Naruto's reaction might be just as acute as Kakashi's own...

The two looked up as they heard the living room's front door open and close ever-so-quietly, possibly by sheer force of habit, for this sound was followed by a call of, "Hokage-sama? Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi stashed his book away in his pack and strode over to the doorway that connected the small kitchen to the living room. "Glad you could make it, Naruto," he said. "Hokage-sama and I had something we wanted to discuss with you."

Naruto scratched anxiously at the whisker-like birthmarks on his left cheek as he followed Kakashi into the kitchen. Sarutobi exhaled a stream of smoke before putting out his pipe and stowing it away within his white Hokage cloak.

"Is this about the mission I participated in last weekend, Hokage-sama?" Naruto asked politely, coming to a respectful halt and standing at attention just inside the kitchen door. Kakashi took a place behind and to the right of the Hokage, and Naruto thought he detected a hint of nerves in the man's demeanor, which was usually so laid-back and unreadable...

"No, Naruto, nothing of that sort, and you can stand at ease... in fact, you may want to sit down," the old man said, his tone a little somber.

Naruto's stance relaxed, and he looked puzzled for a moment—then he took a seat at the table, opposite Sarutobi. "...Then, sir, what did you want to speak to me about?"

The Third Hokage remained silent for a few moments, seemed to be choosing his next words with great care, and then said, "I had originally intended to wait until you were older, or had at least attained the rank of Chunin, before telling you this, Naruto, but it has recently come to my attention that you already know."

"Already know... what, Hokage-sama?" Naruto asked slowly, but behind the Third Lord, Kakashi cleared his throat lightly.

"Sir... may I?" the masked Jonin asked.

Sarutobi nodded his assent. "Yes, Kakashi, I believe that is for the best."

Naruto's brow furrowed just a bit as he turned his attention to his sensei, who met his eye with a look that Naruto hadn't seen on his sensei's face before. It was something... thoughtful, sentimental. In that moment he got the strangest impression that his Jonin instructor had known him for a very long time, and not just for the one-and-a-half months he had served as mentor and commander of Team Seven.

"Naruto," Kakashi began, "I want you to know, first of all, that we only kept this from you for your own safety. I won't pretend that I'm not at fault, because I am, but before we get to that... do you know, Naruto, who your father was?"

Naruto blinked, and his eyes widened. He looked from Kakashi, to the Hokage, and then to Kakashi again—

"I—I do know, but how'd you know that I know? I never mentioned—"

"Hanare let it slip earlier today," Kakashi admitted. "She didn't mean to tell me, so please don't hold it against her."

Naruto frowned and muttered, "I didn't think of that..." And then he shrugged, smiled, and said, "Yeah, I know who my dad is. He's the one who gave his life to seal the Nine-Tails in my body, right? Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage?"

"That's right," Sarutobi said. "If you don't mind my asking, how long have you known?"

"Since the night I found out about my furry little problem," Naruto said bluntly. "I couldn't get to sleep for a while, so I had plenty of time to think. Mostly I just spent the time trying not to remember every little thing the villagers did to me, but I always thought I saw this weird resemblance between my face and the Fourth's." He chuckled. "Wasn't hard to figure out, but I guess I just never got around to asking you about it."

Sarutobi smiled a bit at that. "You're every bit as sharp as Minato was at your age. Maybe a little more. He'd be proud of you if he could see you now."

"I'd have appreciated a few more years with which to be a dim-witted, naïve little kid, frankly," said Naruto. He spread his arms wide, as if to say, _But there you have it, it is what it is. _"I had to grow up faster than the other kids, that's all. I have Sasuke to thank for most of that. If he hadn't been around to make up for how lax my teachers were, I have no idea where I'd be right now."

"What do you mean by that, Naruto?" Kakashi asked, betraying a trace of surprise at the idea that Naruto's Academy teachers had been "lax." The Third Hokage's expression, however, darkened for a moment, and the old man let out a tired sigh.

"Until a couple of years ago, when Iruka-sensei started taking a little more of an active interest in teaching me," Naruto said with a careless, indifferent smirk, "none of the teachers would give me the time of day. Wouldn't answer me when I asked a question, wouldn't look at me when I raised my hand. Conveniently 'forgot' to call my name during roll call. One of them intentionally taught me a flawed version of the Academy taijutsu stance, the bastard. But when I was six, I met Sasuke while I was cutting class. That was the year before he entered the Academy himself, I think. I'd actually wandered out of the village for a bit—you remember that, right, Hokage-sama?"

"Yes, I remember," said Sarutobi. "If I recall, the one who brought you back was..."

"Itachi Uchiha, yes," Naruto said grimly. "Although at the time, I thought he was one of the nicest people I'd ever met—I wonder how much of that was an act... Anyway, that was the day I met Sasuke for the first time. He was working on this project his brother had set up for him, something called the 'Paw Encyclopedia,' and was after the paw-print of a particularly vicious mountain lion in the back hills. He found it as it was bearing down on me, took it down, and took its paw print for the Encyclopedia—but that's beside the point. I was so impressed by his skill, I asked him to help me with my ninja training."

Naruto considered this, blinked a few times, and then laughed, shaking his head.

"Kind of like Konohamaru asked me, now that I think about it..." he added. "After that, we'd meet up every so often in this one patch of forest near the Academy and he'd show me a thing or two about taijutsu or shuriken technique. I learned more from two hours with him than I had from a year-and-a-half at the Academy."

"So you've known Sasuke for that long?" Kakashi asked, bemused. "It's no wonder you two work so well together."

Sarutobi nodded. "I remember. And you were also present when—"

"When that bastard brother of his slaughtered the whole clan? Yeah, I remember that, too. Barely."

Kakashi gave a start. "You were present at the Uchiha Clan Massacre?"

"I don't know anything about it, don't ask me," muttered Naruto. "It's all a haze, like a bad dream or something. I don't even know what I was doing anywhere near the compound at the time, just that I had this irresistible urge to find Sasuke. But I'd always stayed away from Sasuke's family before that, I was afraid they'd tell him to stop training with me—I didn't even tell Sasuke what my real name was until after the massacre, he knew me as 'Minato' up 'til then. The only thing I clearly remember is showing up to find Sasuke unconscious in front of Itachi and then charging at the bastard like a maniac. I'm surprised he didn't kill me, I was so green. But anyway, we're getting off-track..."

Sarutobi's face was a mask of stone. "Yes... this is all beside the point of our present discussion. Naruto, we called you here so we could tell you what we intended to once you came of age."

"That my father was the Fourth Hokage," surmised Naruto, "and... my mother?"

"Her name was Kushina Uzumaki," said Sarutobi, "and unfortunately, she died as a result of childbirth."

"I guess you gave me my mom's maiden name so that Dad's enemies wouldn't know I was the Fourth's son?" Naruto prompted.

"Quite," Sarutobi confirmed with a nod. "The Fourth made many enemies in his day. That is why this is kept so secret, Naruto. If any of those enemies ever discovered that the 'Yellow Flash' had a child, that child would become a target. So treat this secret the same as you would the Nine-Tails, Naruto—only speak of it where none may hear you, and only tell those you implicitly trust. Do you understand?"

Naruto nodded, unsurprised by the order. "Are there any pictures of them, anywhere? To remember them by?"

Sarutobi winced at the subtle longing in the boy's voice, and glanced over to Kakashi.

"We thought you might ask," said the Jonin, "so I asked Hokage-sama to take a look through Minato-sensei's belongings for anything that you might like as a keepsake."

The Hokage lightly picked up his wide-brimmed hat, beneath which a small, bedroom-sized picture frame lay face-down on the table. This he handed to Naruto, who took it gingerly in his fingers, turning it over slowly, almost reverently. His face took on a dreamy quality as his eyes fell on the two figures portrayed in the old photo—a man with blonde, spiky hair that framed his face, whom Naruto instantly recognized as the Fourth Hokage (_My father!_). Next to him, sitting in a chair with a smile on her face and a relaxed hand resting on her own engorged womb, was a woman that could only be his mother. She had the same fiery red hair.

_Kushina Uzumaki... Mom..._

"I know a lot about my dad," Naruto murmured, almost to himself. "But I don't know a thing about Mom."

"She was born in the Land of Whirlpools," Sarutobi said, replacing his hat on the table, "a member of the Uzumaki Clan of _Uzushiogakure no Sato—_the Village Hidden Among the Whirling Tides, if you remember it from history class?"

"Whirlpool—? The village that originally used that spiral symbol? Nobody said anything about any 'Uzumaki Clan' in history class!"

"Didn't they?" Sarutobi asked. "It's a mandatory part of the curriculum for all first-year Academy students, last I checked."

"First year?" Naruto grunted bitterly. "Oh, no fucking _wonder_ I never heard about it. Bastard sensei probably 'forgot' to mention the clan by name because I happened to be in the room at the time. Wouldn't put it past that assclown..." Catching himself, Naruto cleared his throat and said, "Pardon my language, sir. I get a little _nostalgic_ when I remember that first year. You know... all of those 'happy childhood memories,' as Anko would say."

"Hm... no, no harm done, Naruto. Feel free to speak however freely you wish while within your own home, it is your right, after all." Internally, however, Sarutobi was trying to remember the name and face of Naruto's first-year history teacher. Failing to do so, he resolved to peruse the Academy's class records at the first opportunity.

"I thought you knew about the Uzumaki Clan," Kakashi said. "You have their symbol posted to your door, and when we checked at your apartment last month, Sasuke and Hinata recognized it on sight. I assumed it was a show of clan pride."

"That? I just like the symbol. Goes good with my name, I thought. Yeah. Goes good with my name, no shit. Pure, retarded coincidence, sensei, that's all. I swear, when I get my hands on Tobikuma-sensei..."

Sarutobi thought: _Ah yes, Tobikuma Aoyama. That's the one. Hm. Well, he was killed in action last year, so I suppose I won't be paying him a visit after all._

"What was the clan like, what can you tell me?" Naruto said after a moment, stirring the Hokage from his thoughts.

"The Uzumaki Clan were distant blood relatives of Konoha's own Senju Clan," Sarutobi said, "so they and their Hidden Village were close friends and allies with our own. In fact, the First Hokage's wife, Mito Uzumaki, was a member of this same clan, and fought alongside Hashirama-sama against the traitor, Madara Uchiha—"

"Another little factoid that Tobikuma-sensei neglected to mention," mumbled Naruto almost inaudibly.

"...Quite," Sarutobi said with a small sigh. "Although Madara Uchiha's betrayal _has_ been intentionally left out of the Academy curriculum as a concession to the Uchiha Clan. I'd be surprised if even Sasuke knows the man's name—to my knowledge, the Uchiha made a point never to speak of their clan's former leader."

"The village of Uzushio," Sarutobi went on, "as your history instructor _should _have taught you, was wiped out at the beginning of the Third Shinobi World War. The Uzumaki themselves didn't have an _especially _large impact on shinobi history, but they were renowned for two particular gifts. The first was almost inhuman vitality, which manifested in the form of unusual physical resilience and an extended life-span that made many would kill to enjoy themselves. The second was their _fuinjutsu _expertise, which—while their formulas may have been a bit rough—was sufficiently advanced that a number of other shinobi villages feared them enough to unite against them."

"Another reason that I thought you knew about the clan," interjected Kakashi. "I haven't seen anyone else at your age even remotely interested in studying sealing techniques, beyond perhaps learning how to make one's own paper bombs... and here was you, pestering me for information about the Evil-Sealing Method and asking how one might be able to disrupt an opponent's chakra network with sealing tags."

"I had my own reasons for being interested in _fuinjutsu_," Naruto said. Instead of elaborating, he looked at Sarutobi and asked, "Do we have any records of how my clan's _fuinjutsu_ worked? If I can, I'd like to learn as much of it as possible."

"Hm. The only Uzumaki sealing technique our village has a complete record of is classified as a _kinjutsu_, and I believe you would be incapable of performing it in the first place."

"Why do you think that?" Naruto asked, trying to keep the frustration from his voice.

"First off, that particular seal—called the Dead Demon Consuming Seal—takes the life of the one who casts it," Sarutobi said with a tone of authority, "which is why it's forbidden. The only reason we have a record of it is because your father entered it into the First Hokage's Scroll of Sealing along with all of the other _kinjutsu _our village has acquired since the First Lord began the scroll. In any event, the Nine-Tailed Fox sealed within you would prevent you from using the technique—it's impossible for such a spirit, or the person who contains it, to be given up in sacrifice to the Shinigami summoned for the sealing."

"I see," murmured Naruto in disappointed. Then he quirked an eyebrow and said, "That 'Scroll of Sealing' wouldn't happen to be the one Mizuki wanted me to steal, would it?"

"Exactly the one," said Sarutobi. "As for the rest of your clan's techniques, I recall that your mother taught a number of them to your father; one of the things the Fourth Lord was known for, as you recall, was being the village's foremost Sealmaster. This was largely because of the _fuinjutsu _knowledge Kushina imparted, but the majority of his training in that field actually came from Jiraiya."

"My godfather," said Naruto shrewdly. When neither Kakashi nor Sarutobi registered surprise, Naruto rolled his eyes and said, "Ah, I take it Hanare let _that_ slip, too?"

"You are, as I said, quite as sharp as your father was," Sarutobi said, eyes twinkling with amusement. "In any event, what _fuinjutsu _expertise Kushina and Minato had died with them. I recall that the two of them intended to put their techniques to scroll in preparation for your education after your birth, but, unfortunately, they never had the chance to do so."

"Are there any shinobi still alive who knew any of the techniques my parents specialized in?" Naruto asked—a bit of desperation leaking into his voice. "Seals or otherwise?"

The Third Hokage leaned back in his chair, looking thoughtful. "Jiraiya, if and when he next visits the village, may deign to teach you _Kuchiyose no Jutsu—_"

"I'm already learning that from Anko," said Naruto.

Sarutobi's eyebrows shot upwards. "You decided to sign the snake contract?"

"Jiraiya's going to be disappointed when he comes back to find you took on a different summoning tribe while he was away..." Kakashi mused, seeming not at all displeased by the prospect.

"He should have kept in touch, then," grumbled Naruto bitterly—oh, so bitterly—and Kakashi winced.

"There is... _one _technique that Minato-sensei passed on to me that I'd be willing to teach you," Kakashi said slowly. "It's a bit... powerful... for someone of your age and rank, but I think you're wise enough and clever enough to use it responsibly."

"Wait, back up," said Naruto. "Did you just say, 'Minato-_sensei'_?"

Kakashi took a deep breath, closed his exposed eye, opened it, and slowly, he walked around the table to stand a short distance away, to the side, between where Naruto now sat and the small refrigerator. At length, he said: "...Yes. Minato Namikaze was the Jonin instructor in charge of my team when I was a Genin, and he was the commander of our cell during the Third Shinobi World War."

"Dad was your... you were dad's..." mumbled Naruto. Wrapping his head around this revelation, he mouthed his thoughts silently for a few seconds before bursting out: "Were you close to him at all? Did you know he had a—had a—"

"Had a son?" Kakashi supplied. "Yes... yes, I did know he had a son."

"You knew about me, then?" Naruto said. His voice was low, even, and although it was clear the boy was trying to control himself, there was a hint in accusation to his tone. "You knew that the kid he'd sealed the Nine-Tails in was his own—his own..."

"Yes," said Kakashi. "I knew."

"Then—then I guess it didn't matter, right?" Naruto said softly. His fingers gripped the photo frame a little more tightly, and he was no longer looking at his sensei or the Hokage, but at that picture. "I guess you just saw me as the Fox, then, right?"

"What? No!" exclaimed Kakashi. "Naruto, I never—"

"Why, then?" asked Naruto, still staring at the photo, still speaking softly. Halfway through this question, his face went through an odd sort of change: first he seemed to be fighting back anger, and then, for no apparent reason at all, his expression became serene and almost uncaring. "Why is it that I never _once _so much as _saw _you before I was assigned to your squad, sensei? If you knew he had a son, an orphaned son, why didn't you—"

"I ran away," said Kakashi. "I admit it. In my grief, I tried to forget. When Jiraiya asked me to keep an eye on you in his absence, I neglected to do so. I make no excuses, Naruto—I screwed up, badly. I let my own problems weigh me down and get in the way of what was truly important. Naruto, I..."

Naruto, who was still transfixed with the photograph of his parents, heard rather than saw Kakashi's next movements.

"Naruto, I am so sorry."

The red-haired boy looked up, and not seeing his sensei where the man had been standing, looked down... to find the man on his hands and knees, his head down, bowing in apology.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. I was never there for you, and I should have been. I won't ask you to forgive me, but please, from now on, let me make it up to you."

Naruto blinked, utterly nonplussed by this display. Hiruzen Sarutobi watched the two in silence, waiting for Naruto's reaction.

After several long moments:

"Tch... well, it is what it is. It's not like we can go back and change it," Naruto said, and Sarutobi was both surprised and relieved to hear an easy, conversational tone issuing from the boy's mouth. "Get up, sensei, it's all good. Just don't run out on me again, yeah?"

Kakashi looked up into the face of his pupil. The boy with the red hair and the whisker-marks and the face that so closely resembled that of the Fourth looked back, head quirked to one side and a good-humored, lopsided grin twitching as if holding back the beginnings of laughter—and Kakashi knew that it would be alright, that Naruto held no grudge.

"...Thank you, Naruto," Kakashi said. Naruto answered this with a dismissive wave, as if to say that there was nothing to forgive.

**~V~**

**Author's Note:** The line including the names "Dan" and "'Buki-chan" (as in "Ibuki") was actually an unintentional _Street Fighter_ reference... I didn't realize I'd ripped the two names from _Street Fighter_ until I went back to revise the chapter. So yeah, totally meant to do that, absolutely...

The phrase "furry little problem" is also a reference to Harry Potter, for those who didn't catch that. _That _I actually meant to do.

In other news: Naruto now knows of his heritage. Somewhat. Sarutobi seems to have conveniently left out the part about his mother being the former Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox (and yes, that was intentional). Also, Naruto is in the process of adding "enhancing hearing" to his list of skills—"My, grandma, what big ears you have!" "All the better for reconnaissance, my dear!" said the Big Bad Fox. Now we know how Naruto characters can talk to each other at standard conversational volume from half a football field away, I guess. Anime seems to work in reverse from JRPGs... in JRPGs, turning your back on someone ten feet away somehow deafens you to any conversations they might hold with other people, unless the plot demands that you overhear them. In anime, distance does not affect one's ability to hear or be heard at all. Funny how that works, yeah?


	23. XXII: Over a Tray of Strawberry Cupcakes

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ is a _Shonen Jump _publication written by Masashi Kishimoto. I am neither _Shonen Jump_ nor Masashi Kishimoto. If that doesn't say it all, I pity you for your lack of perceptive prowess, and strongly advise that you _not _pursue the way of the ninja.

**~V~**

**- Chapter Twenty-Two -  
>"Over a Tray of Strawberry Cupcakes"<strong>

**~V~**

It was some time later, as the sun sank low in the sky, that Naruto realized he had neglected to eat anything for dinner. In fact, he had neglected to do much of anything at all. The hour-and-a-half spanning the gulf between that moment and the end of Naruto's meeting with Kakashi and the Third Hokage had been filled by a lot of thinking, staring at the framed picture of his parents, more thinking, more staring, and yet more thinking. It wasn't until a low, growling vibration in the pit of his own stomach shook him from his meditations that he lifted himself from his bed and, with one last, longing look at the smiling faces of the loving parents he'd never had a chance to know, Naruto fished a small home-made storage scroll from his supply pack and sealed the framed photo away.

He dearly wished he could put it at his bedside, along with his team photo, but the Hokage had impressed on him before he'd left that the picture would have to remain carefully hidden—even now, nearly thirteen years after the man's death, there would undoubtedly be those who sought some form of retribution against the man who had almost single-handedly ended the Third Shinobi World War. This storage scroll was slightly special: only Naruto's personal chakra could open it. That was one basic advantage of making one's own storage seals; buying pre-made storage scrolls was infinitely pricier and lacked the advantage of personalization. Naruto's storage scrolls weren't quite as good as he would like just yet—he could store, maybe, fifteen or sixteen kunai knives in a single small-sized scroll—but Kakashi had said that for a self-taught _fuinjutsu _enthusiast who'd been at it for less than half a year, it was remarkable progress. The books on _fuinjutsu _that Iruka had loaned him during his final year at the Academy hadn't actually outlined the specifics of how to make such storage scrolls... he had more or less worked them out himself. It was a fact he was rather proud of.

But _there_ was some food for thought: was his skill with seals a case of natural genius, a holdover of his Uzumaki lineage? The idea seemed ludicrous to him—_fuinjutsu _wasn't some kind of _kekkei genkai _bloodline inheritance like the Sharingan or Byakugan, it was all theory and calligraphy and so on and so forth. Sealmasters were made, not born... right?

Without really thinking about it, Naruto flicked a finger over to one of the other storage seals on this same scroll, placed that finger onto it, and in a small poof of smoke, another scroll materialized—ironically, larger than the scroll in which it was contained. _Fuinjutsu _was awesome like that. Unraveling this scroll, Naruto skimmed over its contents, and thought back to the day when he'd first decided to take up this particular shinobi discipline.

The scroll detailed a complex sealing technique called _Fuja Hoin_, the "Evil-Sealing Method." He had nagged Kakashi for days in the hope that he could learn this technique, and Kakashi, while reluctant at first to dispense instruction on such high-level _fuinjutsu _to one so young, had eventually relented in the face of Naruto's logic: knowing a way to counter curse-techniques that the enemy might place on one's comrades might never come into play at any point, but on the off-chance that such a situation _did _arise, Naruto knew himself to be both competent enough in the sealing arts and possessed of sufficient chakra to make use of this peculiar brand of First Aid. It was a role that only Naruto was presently equipped to play; by allowing Naruto to practice this seal, Kakashi would be giving his team one of the tools they'd need to work on covering _all _of the bases, rather than simply _most_ of them.

Naruto had to wonder whether or not Kakashi suspected the boy's ulterior motive for pursuing this technique... he'd been hesitant to ask at all in the first place, because he'd thought it might be obvious what he was really after. Mastering the basics of the Evil-Sealing Method, after all, was the most likely first step on the road to finding a way to counter the Hyuga Clan's inhumane _juinjutsu_...

...which burned Naruto the hell up whenever he thought about the specifics of it; best _not _to go _there_.

Naruto knew that the Evil-Sealing Method by itself would prove no match for the curse seal that adorned Hinata's forehead, and that he would likely need Jonin-level Archive clearance before he could study _fuinjutsu _theory thoroughly enough to create a variation of the technique tailored to that particular brand. He also knew that even if he could create such a counter-seal, the mere existence of a technique custom-made to render the Hyuga curse-seal inoperable would open a whole _other_ can of worms that Naruto hadn't the foggiest clue how to deal with... but knowing how to plan ahead, that was another thing Naruto prided himself on. He would figure something out, one way or another. Perhaps some way to use the technique on Hinata, and Hinata alone, without letting the Hyuga in on the who and how behind it all... if it meant his Hina-chan could make her own fate without the interference of those infernal stick-in-the-shit Main Branch goonies, anything was worth it. But all the same: the less severe the backlash that the village had to endure because of it, the better.

And now he was off on another mental tangent. Spectacular. Naruto rolled the _Fuja Hoin_ scroll back up and stowed it in its storage seal once more. He'd practiced the calligraphy and committed the seal and all nineteen hand-signs to perfect memory already. The trouble with learning this technique was that there was no way to really practice it. He supposed if one of his teammates ever got cursed by something, he'd just have to do the best he could and pray to whatever deity might be listening that he didn't fudge it up.

_Stop spacing out. Stand up. Put the storage scroll back in its pocket. And cook. Yourself. Some dinner. You moron._

In response to his own internal urging, Naruto felt himself (in an oddly distant sort of way) stand up, put the storage scroll back in the supply pack on his bedside table, and stroll out of his bedroom toward the kitchen. He was halfway through the doorway when three knocks at the apartment's front door startled him out of auto-pilot.

Turning 'round on one heel, he strode the three paces between kitchen and locked door, peeked through the peek-hole, smiled, and unlocked his apartment door.

"Good evening, Naruto-kun!" said Hanare, smiling brightly and lifting the covered tray in her arms for his examination. "I come bearing cupcakes! I hope you like strawberry."

"Either you can read minds from half a mile away, or you have stupidly lucky timing," Naruto chuckled, ushering the woman into his apartment. "I haven't even eaten dinner yet. I was just thinking about how famished I am."

"'Stupidly lucky timing,' then," admitted Hanare as she made her way to the kitchen table and set the small tray of cupcakes down. "Although I wasn't nearly that far away... I've actually rented an apartment on the first floor of this very building. Room eight, in fact."

"Of all the places you could've chosen to live, you picked _this one_?" sighed Naruto with an incredulous shake of his head. "This is one step short of the dingiest place in the village—the only reason I live here is 'cause the landlord was the only one who was willing to let me rent a place... I found out a couple weeks ago that he came to the village two years after the Nine-Tails attacked, so he's probably also the only landlord in the village who doesn't hate my guts. You can do better than this place."

"I could if I wanted to," Hanare said with an uncaring half-shrug of her shoulders. She pulled up a chair and collapsed into it, lightly rubbing at the bridge of her nose. "But you're one of the only people I really trust right now, Naruto-kun. And I know you're nearly as short on friends as I am..."

Naruto heaved a disgruntled sigh as he retrieved a pair of glasses from the cabinet above the sink and a carton of milk from his undersized refrigerator. "Yeah," was all he said, then he poured two glasses of milk and returned the carton to its home. Putting one glass in front of Hanare, which she thanked him for, he sat down opposite her and lifted the tray's cover, snatched up a strawberry cupcake, and nibbled at it absently. After a moment he blinked a few times, glanced at the confection appreciatively, and said, "This is one of the best things I've ever eaten. Where'd you learn to bake like this?"

"I'm nothing special. Kunoichi tend to learn how to do just about everything women are stereotypically expected to do," Hanare said modestly. "That's not even limited to spies. I imagine the girls in your Ninja Academy were required to attend kunoichi-only classes, yes?"

"Yeah, I remember some of them bitching about how flower-arranging was like algebra: totally useless in the real world," said Naruto. "Coincidentally, I was reading up on the language of flowers at the time."

Hanare raised an eyebrow.

"Someone made a joke about cactus flowers, and I wanted to know what the fuck they meant," Naruto said flatly.

"Ah."

Naruto shrugged. "Knowing random, seemingly useless things can be handy at times. At least I know enough about flowers not to screw the pooch on my first date by giving the girl an impression I don't actually mean... or giving her _father _an impression he might kill me for." Then, with a mischievous smirk: "It was also a fun way to mess with Ino. She _still _has no idea who put that electric bouquet on her desk that day—confronted _all _the girls about it, but I guess it never occurred to her that the red-haired 'flake' could possibly have enough culture to declare 'Vengeance!' with flowers and a sealing tag." He popped the rest of the cupcake whole into his mouth, chewed it, swallowed it. After a sip of milk to wash it down, he added: "She was more concerned about frizzy hair than the fact that she'd been electrocuted and possibly needed medical attention. I still can't decide if that's funny or sad."

Hanare bit her bottom lip to stifle a laugh. "'Vengeance' for what, exactly?" she asked. At the same time, she skimmed through the many memories she had acquired when she'd read Naruto's mind the previous week. If it was significant to him, she probably already knew it...

"Ino Yamanaka was one of the many, many _insane fangirls_ that pestered Sasuke at the Academy," Naruto said, helping himself to a second cupcake. Hanare nodded, knowing of the fangirl epidemic that Naruto had often worked to shield his friend from, as much to pester the fangirls as to lessen the daily annoyances that Sasuke would have to deal with. "I also had a slight crush on her for a while, but what I was really getting revenge for was the time she bashed me on the head and yanked me out of my chair so that she could sit next to Sasuke. I didn't have the chance to retaliate at the time because, as luck would _have_ it, Iruka-sensei walked in two seconds later and he hadn't really started paying attention to me yet at the time, so when I tried to get his attention so I could complain, he just flat-out ignored me. I got Ino back in the sparring ring a couple of times, but I wanted to test out my first custom piece of _fuinjutsu _on someone and thought it'd be funny to pull it on Ino."

Having found the memories that Naruto spoke of, Hanare gradually shook harder and harder with giggles, one of her eyes weaving signs almost automatically as she did—and looking inward, upon a slightly hazy flashback involving an irate blond-haired fangirl, what essentially amounted to a bouquet-shaped hand-buzzer, and the five-way catfight that had ensued. Collecting herself and clearing her throat, she cut off the Ocular Mind-Reading technique and picked up a cupcake of her own, taking a sizable bite out of it and swallowing hastily to still the laughter. The image of a certain pinkette responding to the name "Billboard Brow" with a full-on headbutt and a flurry of fingernail swipes was not an easy one to dispel from the mind.

Naruto shrugged. "Hey, it got a few of them to take their training a little more seriously. For all the wrong reasons, mind, but a competent ninja is a competent ninja no matter the motive behind it, no?"

"So it's all in the name of saving lives, is that it, Naruto-kun?" Hanare asked coyly. Naruto nodded seriously and took another bite of his strawberry cupcake.

"Absolutely. That extra two minutes of daily training will save their lives and their virtue one day, I _guaran-fucking-tee_ it. Well, it'll save their lives, at least. I have slightly less faith in Kyoko-san's virtue. She was already almost as trashy as Anko at the age of _eleven_, which is both impressive and slightly disturbing."

Conversation lapsed into a comfortable silence as the two finished their latest cupcakes, and then Naruto, casually, said, "So, uh, Hanare. I hear I have you to thank for the Hokage finally telling me who my parents are."

Hanare smiled sheepishly. "Yes, I'm sorry about that. It just kind of... slipped out."

"I'm not sorry," said Naruto, looking up at the ceiling thoughtfully as he spoke. "I learned a lot... and I'll be learning one of my dad's techniques tomorrow, too. I wonder what it'll be like... it'll probably crazy-hard to master..."

Hanare watched him carefully, and saw it—only for an instant, a hint of wistfulness to his smile.

"Naruto-kun," she said, "do you... want to talk about it?"

Naruto's smile faded, and he opened his mouth to say no, but then closed it again. He didn't say anything for a few more seconds, then suddenly blurted out, "I'm not sure whether or not I really forgive sensei for leaving me alone all this time."

Hanare had been afraid of that. When Kakashi had told her earlier of how the talk had gone, he'd been clearly, visibly relieved that Naruto wasn't holding the man's negligence against him. She waited in silence for Naruto to elaborate.

When he did, he looked Hanare square in the eye, his expression one of confusion.

"I mean that literally," he said. "I don't know whether or not I really forgive him. It's like, one side of my brain knows it's pointless to hold a grudge, but another part of me can't let go of the bitterness. When I think about how much easier it would have been if I'd had some kind of older-brother figure to... to talk to when I was feeling down, or... I mean, Sasuke's always been kind of like a brother to me, but not in the way I mean. Someone who could... I dunno..."

"Be an example?" Hanare suggested. Naruto tilted his head slightly to one side, pondered this, and nodded.

"Yeah, that's one thing I'm thinking," he said. Then, frowning: "Like Itachi was to Sasuke, I guess... that kind of big brother."

Hanare smiled a soft, knowing smile—for she knew him better than perhaps even his closest friends, having relived most of his life several times in her head over the past few days.

"Kakashi knows that," she said. "He knows he failed you that way, and he regrets it almost as much as the first time he failed to care for his precious people."

Naruto blinked. "The first time?"

"It's not my place to say," Hanare replied. "Maybe someday he'll open up to you as well. Have you ever asked him how he got his Sharingan?"

"He wouldn't say."

Hanare sighed. "Maybe someday he'll tell you. Just try to understand how he feels now—he's made mistakes, terrible mistakes, and he blames himself for each of them. It would kill him inside if you blamed him, too..."

"I won't blame him," Naruto said quickly, fiercely—almost as if it were an order, rather than a statement. "It's just that part of me really wants to, even if I don't agree with it. I... know how to keep that part of me quiet, though. It won't be a problem."

"I'm glad..."

Silence followed, as Naruto seemed to be working up the courage to say something more. Then, in almost a single breath:

"There's something else that's really bugging me, though." He took a deep breath, and added, calmly: "Something that happened before I spoke with Kakashi-sensei and Hokage-sama."

Naruto was now so obviously unsure of himself that Hanare wasn't able to respond right away. All of the boy's previous composure seemed to vanish or evaporate, his eyes glancing to the left and the right. One arm rubbed briefly at the opposite forearm in a classic show of anxiety.

"What is it, Naruto-kun...?"

"I was practicing chakra-enhanced hearing earlier," he said, his voice barely above a mumble. "You know, the art of increasing the sensitivity of your ears by channeling chakra into your eardrums. I still can't do it at the same time as my nose, but it shouldn't take too long to get to the point where I can. Sensei thinks that my chakra pool is deep enough that I could keep both up non-stop even in most combat situations, since it doesn't take a whole lot of chakra. It's good for tracking and recon, and even better for not being blindsided like that time I almost got killed by a crazy-woman."

Naruto abruptly stopped rambling about the advantages of superhuman senses, and then said steadily:

"A few times I overheard people who passed me by say kinda nasty things about me. I was ready for that. Or I thought I was. Then I overheard this guy talking to his girlfriend about how the Nine-Tails destroyed his uncle's shop when it attacked. He was one of the ones who upped the prices on anything I would buy in his store..."

Hanare's mouth had become a thin, grim line; beneath the table, her fingernails dug slightly into the palm of her hands, and she forced herself to open her fists before she had a chance to draw blood.

"I was ready for that," Naruto went on. "I was past caring about that. But then his girlfriend said something I wasn't ready for."

"What did she say?"

"That maybe—" his voice faltered for a moment, "—I'm not the same as the Nine-Tails. That I've never caused trouble for anyone. She talked about the rumors that I'd stopped an Academy teacher who'd turned traitor from stealing an important scroll, and the rumor that I'd... heh..." A slight hint of apologetic humor crossed his face. "...That'd I'd helped 'take down a spy from a foreign village.'"

"But... Naruto-kun, that's good, isn't it?" Hanare said, baldly and for all the world utterly nonplussed by Naruto's confused tone. Naruto kept speaking as if he hadn't heard her.

"Then," he said, "her boyfriend asked her if she was taking my side over hers, and she said maybe she was, and he stormed off and she stormed off and I thought I was past _caring!_"

It was a sharp, sudden rise in volume. Naruto forced his eyes shut, and took several calming breaths. Hanare gaped at him, uncomprehending.

"I don't understand..."

"I thought I was past caring what the villagers think," Naruto muttered bitterly, snatching up another cupcake—this, he shoved unceremoniously into his mouth, roughly wiping the icing off his lips with a single swipe of his thumb. Swallowing roughly after minimal chewing, he gulped down a mouthful of milk and went on: "They've never done anything for me. Whether they acknowledge me or not, it doesn't change who I am. I had a good friend, or brother, or sparring buddy, or whatever Sasuke happened to be at the time, and that was enough. I could focus on just taking pride in my own hard work, on being a true shinobi. Then Hina-chan came along—"

Naruto stopped, took another calming breath, and set his glass down.

"Then Hina-chan came along, and of all the guys she could have been crushing on, she'd picked me. _Me._ The 'flaky-looking girly-man' with the weird whisker birthmarks. Do you have any idea what I felt when I realized she'd been stalking _me _instead of Sasuke? It was like..." Naruto trailed off, eyebrows crunching up a bit as he considered an appropriate metaphor. "...like I'd been wandering a tundra and just happened to stumble over a random space-heater that someone'd left lieing around for no good reason. It was warm, it was random, it was breath of fresh air and it was almost like I hadn't realized I was about to _freeze to death_ until I noticed how comfortable the hot air felt. This is kind of like that."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Hanare asked, and Naruto ground his teeth together slightly.

"...Yes. No. It's awesome, and it's annoying. I shouldn't _care._ I shouldn't need to know that someone out there gives a shit about the demon brat everyone hates so much. But someone does, and I do care. I thought I was past that, but I guess I was just fooling myself."

"Naruto-kun, you've been hated by the village for most of your life," Hanare said, raising her hands in a placating gesture. "Of course you're going to feel something when they start to see the real you—"

"I shouldn't have to be some kind of hero just so a few random pedestrians might take a few seconds to think about whether I deserve it before they throw stones at me, Hanare."

And there it was, right out there in the open. His voice was low and even as he said it, the moment it came out he grimaced as if embarrassed with himself. He clicked his tongue, took another sip of milk, and stared at the refrigerator for a bit. It might have occurred to him, if he'd had a chance to look on himself from an outside perspective at that moment, that his expression was most appropriate for one Sasuke Uchiha: the cool, broody kind of look that the prodigy always wore while staring at absolutely nothing at all.

For Hanare's part, she could now completely comprehend the reason for Naruto's bitterness.

"You're happy that someone's starting to see you for you," she murmured, "and angry at yourself because you can't let go of how much it took to make them look past the demon you contain."

"Yeah," said Naruto flatly. "...Yeah, I think that's more or less it..."

"Naruto-kun, I can't say I know what that feels like, but you have to let it go..."

"I'm not sure how I'm supposed to do that."

"I can't tell you how to come to terms with your own heart."

"I know, I know," said Naruto with a wave of his hand that said, _'tis nothing, 'tis nothing. _And it was gone, the bitter self-reprimanding unease, filed away in that locked cabinet at the back of his mind and replaced by Naruto's customary good humor. "Thanks for listening, though, Hanare. I think I just needed to let that air itself out a little to really get a handle on what's eating me."

Hanare smiled, plucked one last strawberry cupcake off the tray, and said, "It's nothing. I mean, what're friends for? Decoration?"

"I see what you did there," said Naruto flatly, snatching up a cupcake of his own with a mockingly irate swipe of one arm. "But seriously, thanks. I feel better now, I think."

Hanare took a small bite out of her final cupcake, swallowed, and smiled a sisterly smile at the red-haired boy across from her. "You don't need to be afraid to tell me these things, you know. I'll always be willing to listen, if you need advice or an ear for your troubles."

Naruto's face twitched momentarily into an expression Hanare had no time to register or recognize, then it was merely appreciative.

"I'll keep that in mind, Hanare," he said sincerely.

When Hanare returned to her own apartment shortly after that, when the door had closed behind her, Naruto just stood in front of it, staring at it but not really paying attention to it at all, trying to comprehend the familiar feeling of comfort and warmth that had overtaken him just then. It was a feeling he remembered from before, one he associated mostly with Ayame Ichiraku and, to a somewhat lesser extent, with Anko Mitarashi. He hadn't given it much thought before now, but it was...

_It's nice, this feeling. Like, I dunno... maybe this is what it feels like to have a big sister looking out for you, or something?_

Naruto decided not to overthink it, and to just savor the feeling. And savor it is what he did—right on into his sleep, and an unusually comfortable sleep it was. Somehow his cheap, springy mattress just felt softer than usual that night, and his blanket might have been swapped out with an electric one while he wasn't looking...

It felt soft, warm, and safe. Naruto knew enough about ninja life by now to know better than to look that particular gift horse in the mouth.

**~V~**

**Author's Note:** Naruto's Rasengan training begins next chapter, and within the next two or three, the Whirlpool Arc will kick off, marking the beginning of the first major story arc in this timeline. It will be a largely original arc with entirely original villains. Won't say any more here... except that the changes in the timeline during this arc will pretty much define the entire series from this book on.

I'm looking forward to this next arc; I've been planning it for a while, and I'm anxious to get a move on. I probably won't touch either of my other two stories until I've finished it.


End file.
